The End of Evolution
by Denorisn
Summary: "And I thought, that I would conjure a great devil, and tell all the fools in the heavens that I too was god" Approximately what happens when a depressed individual gets drunk after watching End of Evangelion, and decides to fix it by adding pokemon while working through some issues of their own.
1. Part 1

" _And I thought, that I would conjure a great devil, and tell all the fools in the heavens that I too was god"_

After the worst of rainstorms, the sun always scintillates the brightest. The clouds part and strands of pure heaven poke through the sky, lighting up small pieces of the world individually before the grand whole of this creation glows with a soft, pure light. Lumiose City was no different, in fact taking its very name from how the plains and tall sky scrapers glowed utterly with beauty in the dawn. People from all over the world would take pilgrimages to this place, flashing cameras at the sights this country was known for like its thousands of delicious cafes or the fashions which grew out from the minds of its many denizens. And at the city of this wonderful city stood the prism tower, a magnificent structure of glass and crystal jutting unto the heavens like a final testament to man's greatness shouting to the world that yes, humanity has lived and thrived.

Or at least it used to be.

The storm that surrounded this place was not one of pure weather, but of violence and bloodshed. It was as if the gods themselves had looked down upon the world and scoffed. Lumiose was not as it once been. The city was not teeming with chatter and life as usual, no children roamed its parks, no adults its streets, no pokémon its skies. Silence is the answer to the question of war, and it is terrible.

Calem was not kind to himself, he never was. Lumiose was in ruins, with streets flooded from broken water mains and building and homes half destroyed in the previous attacks. He had not been here long, but in his time in his place it had only gotten worse. As a child, he dreamed of coming to a city as grand as this or Castelia in Unova. Now here he was, not admits its squalor, but is decimation. The thought always haunted him, in his dreams and in his waking, and as the weeks went by he spent more and more time staring out windows at the rest of the city. A part of his blamed himself for this madness, but everyone always said he should be proud of what he's done so far.

" _Do not believe their lies, Calem. This destruction is all your doing"._ The thought came and went like a shadow across his mind. He shut his eyes.

"It's not my mind, it's not me. I am me. It's not my mind, it's not me. I am me." His mantra, repeated whenever he felt that darkness, that shadow. "Its not-"

"Calem? You can see her now." The nurse stated from the open door. Slowly, but surely, he backed away from the window and followed her through the hospital. The walk wasn't long, but room 303 was a few flights up. He had to see her.

Serena wasn't well, not by any stretch of the word or imagination. The medical equipment she was attached to beat steadily, indicating that at least the worst of it was over. Calem didn't get many details about what happened, they never told him anything. But what he knew wasn't good. She laid in bed, her eyes closed.

"Why did you do it? Why? You could have run, you could have been free of this place, free to live the life you always wanted." He started. She didn't move.

"I… I hate this place. I hate that I ever came to this city, I hate that I ever met these people." A pause. "I… I hate my father."

The steady rhythm of the heart monitor tore through the room like a marching band on parade day. Calem was not quick with his words, and the pauses between them would have been deafening if not for the machinery. Though, while they were deafening to him, Serena remained still.

"Why does being here give you so much pride? Why do you wish to do this? To follow what Aliana and the other want to do all the time? I don't. I can't."

In his pocket, his phone vibrated. But Calem didn't care. He moved to sit down, but there was nothing. He looked around the room, but no chair was to be found. His heart weighed heavy, like the pull of a thousand stars gravity pushing him down, down through the floor, through the complex, through the earth, into the bleak darkness of oblivion.

"Help me." He started. "You always have so much energy, so much strength. Help me Serena, please." She laid there motionless. No response uttered from her lips, and none that he could see coming. Which was not fair. How could she just lie there, like nothing has happened? Like that fire that burned at the core of her very being was not lit? How could she sleep when sleep was a lie?

"Hey," he started again, and shoved her. "Hey Serena, Help me." Another shove. "Please Serena why won't you help me!"

The last shove rolled her on her back, but her eyes, they remained cold and shut.

"Why won't you wake. Why won't you call me stupid, or moron, or anything like you always do. Why…" tears welled in the young man's eyes. Tears of a boy who does not understand that he grew up when he wasn't paying attention.

* * *

Earth, the third planet from the star called sol drifting endlessly in the spiral galaxy called the milky way, was teeming with life. In its seas, and skies and on its land crawled an endless array of creatures both big and small. And for years, countless, forgotten years this is how it was, is and was to be.

Today, in the modern age, there exists two primary groups of life on this rock. The first, man, a being which upon two legs and with the gift of Reason and Wisdom conquered the globe, from mastering fire to rock to lightning and even a piece of the very fundamentals of the universe. And the other being Pokémon, that ever changing, evolving mutable existence that proliferated every geological and environmental niche upon the earth. For thousands of years the two have existed side by side, sometimes hunting the other, sometimes helping. But always the two exist.

In ancient times, fear must have ruled the world, as the fear born out of the need for survivable always shone brightest. But those times have past, and for years, thousands of years, human kind has strived for one thing above all others, to live in harmony with the Pokémon that share their world. As pets, partners, and friends, every young child is taught that the creatures are to be respected, either in their natural habitat or to live alongside them.

Pokémon, in their various types and forms, could do wonders. They breathed fire and moved mountains. They flew the skies and planted forests. And the greatest among them were revered as gods. Some which sunk into myth and legends, while others always on the forefront of humanities mind, like the ever-burning sun and its ties to the bird of paradise that was Ho-oh. Together, civilization flourished, and through science and understanding enlightenment was soon to follow. Truly, humanity thought it had entered a golden age.

If only hopes and dreams were tangible things.

Second Impact shattered these, and the world with it. According to the official report from the United Pokémon League, Second Impact was an event only disaster movies dared to predict. A meteor, small enough to be nearly undetectable but traveling at near light speeds, crash landed into the South Pole, causing a massive explosion nearly 5 years ago. Debris from the continent was sent flying hundreds of miles, and the glaciers that held together the world collapsed and melted from the heat. Second Impact shook the world, quite literally as earthquakes and tsunamis rocked the planet and destroyed coastal areas. Most of Hoenn was lost in the aftermath.

The planet, once teeming with life at its every edge was rocked by an extinction-level event not seen since that which killed the dinosaurs' eons ago. It was dubbed second impact by the media soon after, with the first being that fateful meteor 65 million years ago. It was awesome and terrible and utterly changed the world in ways no one could even predict.

* * *

Bryonny collapsed into her chair, different that all the times before. Gone was the constant stress and terror of her job, replaced with a clean satisfaction that she had done it well and yes, everything was going to be alright. Of course, she still had a job, which kind of was confusing, but for now she didn't feel the need to worry about the future or any such things. Today was a good day.

Kaguya always had that same pensive look on his face, like no matter what the man was feeling inside, he always seemed slightly confused at the situation at hand, never fully grasping it. It made sense that he kept a slowbro at home, the Pokémon's endless confusion and amnesia fit the man's personality to a "t". together along with Albin the three sat in the command center sipping coffee and tea and eating biscuits. It wasn't very formal anymore around FLARE. Not anymore.

"Supposedly, we're to be on level 1 alert right now, all communications to and from the outside are cut off" Albin said. It didn't really make any sense. Sure, they had been on high alert before, on and off whenever a supposed divine was attacking, but those times were called for, or not if FLARE got the readings wrong.

"Ahh who cares! We defeated all the divines, remember? Mew was the last one! Relax its probably just procedure at this point". Bryonny half chuckled as she said.

"Yeah but why?" Kaguya chimed in as he munched through a biscotti. "I know FLARE is pseudo-military and all, but regular high alerts seem quite stupid." He glanced back at the command chair within the center, where Lysander and Xerosic usually took point during missions. Now it stood largely empty, a symbol more or less of the relax nature of these days. A relaxation well earned.

"I don't know, but I wish Dr. Celosia was here, she'd knew what's up. I'm pretty tired of us command center personnel seemingly always being the last to know things." Bryonny added. The three shrugged and relaxed.

"So, what do you think is going to happen to FLARE and the megas now? You know since all the divines are done and gone with." Kaguya asked the group.

"Well, if you ask me, I'm pretty sure FLARE is going to be disbanded. I'm mean we completed our mission, right? No sense in keeping around an army with nothing to fight. And as for us, I doubt they'll just give us a slap on the back and say 'Congratulations!' and let us all go without some sort of secrecy." Albin referred to the fact that FLARE even after all the battles was a top-secret organization. Despite the full backing of the Elites, and far too much in funding from the rest of the world leagues, the public at large didn't have much of a clue about the organization's existence. Something about happiness and bliss in ignorance was used as justification, but there was some truth to that. People generally didn't need to know that their very existence was near constantly threatened by the divines, especially since most of the world was still amid recovering from Second Impact.

"Well, all we can do is wait and see." Bryonny shrugged as she took a sip from her tea. There was at least one perk to her job, and it was imported Sinnohian herbal tea always stocked to the brim in the break room. It smelled and tasted heavenly.

They had been through a lot, this group of strangers hand-picked by Lysandre and forged through conflict into an elite working unit. They had to be, as FLARE was tasked with one of the hardest jobs of all, defeating beings so great and awesome as to be called minor deities in their own right by the people of old. FLARE, in respect to their former status gave them the title divines, but gods they were certainly not.

Part of the secrecy was the apparent blasphemy of the project. How dare man think he could challenge creatures of such majesty and might? But when the gods bring their wrath, man has the right to say unto the heavens "No."

Calem was home again. Well, home would not be the correct term. The four walls and roof where never home, not to him. He shared them with Major Aliana and her pokemon Prinplup at first, but later with Serena as well. The four were alone in this city, in one way or another. Prinplup was an artic flightless bird pokemon living in what now was eternal sunny days since Kalos no longer experienced seasons. Aliana was a woman in her mid-thirties with not even the trace of romantic ties or a family holding her down. And Serena came here on her own from Unova, somewhat like Calem himself from Johto. But Calem supposedly had his father, a father who when the boy finally moved to this city on his wishes didn't even want to live with him. He only wanted Calem to fight alongside his big science project.

" _And what makes you think you're not a science project either, Calem"_

At night, he wished he never came to this city, this country, this place. He wished he was still back with grandma in the country, only worrying about his grades or taking care of grandpa. Isn't that what kids his age normally do, what they're supposed to do?

But no, he came here, and he met _X_.

X…

When he came to Lumiose city, the timing was too good to be true. After years of silence from his real father, the call came. The call that he actually wanted the boy in his life, and wanted him to move to Lumiose to be with him. And Calem could not have rushed to the city fast enough. He hadn't seen his father for years, not since his family was whole. Supposedly his dad was some big important scientist, but he didn't know, not for sue. His grandparents didn't explain much, but he got the feeling that they truly didn't know either.

It was a lie, though. One big, gigantic lie. His father didn't want to see him for him, not for the son he used to know. No. He wanted him just for X.

The timing was too good to be true, because it wasn't, and all just a plan. And the worst thing was the X knew it.

The divines, as FLARE called them, first began their attack two years ago. To a world that was just beginning to heal, the first divine's anger was a nightmare made real. Celebii, the fairy protector of the forests and patron of all grass Pokémon, just went berserk one day. The creature, like all mythic Pokémon, was not one to appear in public, darting only through rare occurrences to children and lost hikers throughout the centuries. But it appeared over Ecruteak city like a wrathful angel. IN less than three hours, the entire city was destroyed through pure psychic and natural power. The being called natural disasters upon the land, and decimated populations. People fled from what was once their deity, confused, scared, and cowering. From there it began to move inland, but the combined might of the elite four, and the military finally managed to blow it out of the sky. No body was recovered, leading most to believe that the time traveling fairy used its namesake power, and vanished into the future.

After that, the legendary bird of Kanto began circling the globe, destroying cities that managed to survive the chaos of Second Impact, or those who were recovering. Calem arrived in Lumiose city within a day of one such attack, unbeknownst to him, but foreseen by his father. Without so much as a "Its good to see you again, son", FLARE strapped the mega ring to his wrist, thrust a purple pokeball in his hand, and sent him out into the city unguarded, as the oncoming prophetic thunderstorm begat the fury of the thunder bird.

" _I should have better than you."_

What were they thinking? He was only thirteen, barely old enough to get his first pokemon. And they give him this, this monstrosity? What happened to giving young kids cute, adorable creatures, like Squirtle or Turtwig? What happened to raising it with care and love, growing together and being partners, being friends?

"Why can't I just be normal?!" he yelled into the empty room, of an empty apartment, in an empty city. His voice filled with sound and fury, heralding nothing but pain and sorrow.

As the clouds rolled in, lighting struck all around. Great rolling booms of thunderous s cacophonies echoed throughout the city, and the wind kicked up a great fierceness. The sky, long since covered with shadow and great grey darkness, coalesced into a matted, twisting, storm, and from it burst power and fury incarnate. For Zapdos, the electric pokemon had come.

Rain billowed around him in great sheets, threatening to tear the many trees that still lined the once busy streets from their moorings and toss street signs asunder. Down below, in a great underground complex sat FLARE, its people and doctors and scientist huddled safely in their bunker, watching the battle unfolded on screens and monitors, and at the heart of it all in the command center that at the time Calem barely had seen was his father, hands tented in front of his face, watching the underlings scurry around like ants rattling off readings and numbers, and all glued to their seats awaiting one young boy to unleash the culmination of their ages of work. Watching one young boy frozen with fear, gripping a pokeball with white knuckles grown cold from exposure to the elements.

The memory was vivid, like the recollection anyone would have of touching fire for the first time, and the searing intensity of the heat burning away soft and tender flesh and permanently scarring their hand and mind with the notion that yes fire is hot, and that it will destroy them.

Lost to the wind and rain was the shouting's and ramblings of command in the earpiece they hastily gave him before shoving the boy out the front door into the chaos. The idea, supposedly was simple, as Aliana explained it to him between picking Calem up from the airport and rushing him over to FLARE headquarters and slapping the ring on his wrist. X was the culmination of years of research and the funding of the entire remaining world fused together into two parts. He was power incarnate, a clone of a haywire experiment decades ago that nearly destroyed a region but proved that man had achieved reason and understanding that could be used to challenge the heavens. And with him came the ring which together with the right individual, would make him a god.

Why him? What made him special? He was a nobody. Calem never excelled in any of his classes; he never showed his father's knack for the sciences, nor his grandmother's knack of the arts. But everyone, Alianna, his father, Serena, and all the others insisted that he was chosen for this, that he was destined for this.

He would have died there, Calem is still sure of that to even this day, amidst the wind and rain. Probably struct down by the thunder bird's power. But one phrase rung out throughout his headset.

"Throw the damn ball Calem!"

On instinct, he let it fly. He probably internalized the toss from watching so many pokemon matches on television, but the ball flew high and true in the storm. And just at its zenith it lit up like a flare in the night and out came X. to say that Calem was prepared for the beast that was to be his partner would be in and of itself an outright lie. Where Calem was not, X was everything. X relished the freedom with glee, looking unto the heavens that wept rain and lightning as a prisoner would the first rays of sunlight in years.

" _To be released, unto this darkness, is a wonder!"._ Those were the first words Calem ever heard from X, though not with his ears. The words resonated through his mind with psychic reverberations. Above Zapdos echoed overhead, sending lightning down on building upon building, destroying what were once held up examples of civic pride and architectural artistry. But X did not flinch, did not budged, did not move. He stood there, floating just so above the ground, letting the rain dance upon his skin. And with a flash he was on Calem. The boy didn't even see the pokemon move, it was so fast. He covered the space of at least ten meters within a blink from rain-coated eyelids, and the creature held up via telekinetic might its partner by the throat.

" _So, this is to be my 'trainer', my partner, my mega ring carrier."_ X thought aloud. _"I swore that enigma Lysandre would provide me with another one of his armed thugs, strange as it is that I can never read that human's mind. How quaint, how… insulting it be to find out he sent me a child with no spine."_

"D-dad… help…." Calem eked out as his throat was crushed. In his earpiece people shouted.

"30 seconds until Zapdos reaches the child!" the voice he now recognized as Kaguya shouted.

"Sync readings with the mega ring as fluctuating wildly!"

"Oh Arceus, is X going to kill him?!"

X hovered around the boy who struggled at his throat to even breathe. Calem membered experiencing terror, true terror, for the first time right then and there in his entire life. The kind of terror one realizes when death is a very real certainty. The kind of terror when one realizes that they have made all the absolute wrong choices leading up to that very moment in their life. And he remembers feeling something new for the first time in his life, the will to live.

The rest of the first battle is still a blur. But what he knows now is that something happened, something that activated the ring around his wrist. And with is X gained life anew, gained zeal, and gained power untold.

With that X laid waste to the divine.

* * *

The Elite never met in person these days. Gone were the leisurely meetings where they drank wine and partied without much of a care. Their revelry ended when the former world did, on that day of Second Impact.

They were called the Elite because of their status, all current or former members of their regions Elite Four, that titular organization which served as both end of a pokemon trainer's journey and leaders of their nations. In the wild, pokemon fight one another to establish dominance like animals. Thus, it spoke to some primal natural of humanity that they had organized their very governments on similar ideals. People proved the strength of their convictions through rigorous battle with their partner pokemon, and ultimately, the best of the best rise up not only in strength of combat, but strength of character. Or at least, that's how the by lines went.

Nowadays they spent their time dragged down in endless policy discussion, aid referendums, and other governmental drama. How is it that tragedy begets complications? Most regions were always more or less light on laws and small in policy; it had been tradition since ancient times that people general looked after their own. But with farms destroyed and homes and communities upheaved, people had started turning to their more baseless natures. It seemed like even in the worst of times, people could never truly know and understand one another.

Today's meeting, like all the others, was done remotely, with naught even pictures of their members to identify the voices, merely a conference call.

"With the defeat of mew, all the divines have been accounted for," Xerosic reported over the line.

"Yet, the Mount Coronet Scrolls still show all the signs pointing toward Third Impact." Elite 2 stated. They were ranked, in their organization, not by trainer strength or ability, but by seniority. It was a formality going back decades, but among the Elite, they referred to each other by their rank rather than name. Supposedly it was to humble the members as they slowly crept their way to number 1, to know that they were to be not large egos full of the grandiosity and might, but public servants above all. It did not.

"The meteorological predictions for the environment are not improving. The dust launched into the atmosphere is have an exponentially rising cooling effect on the planet. These endless summers the former temperate zones are experiencing will soon give way to endless winters as the planet undergoes a new ice age." Elite 7 reminded the group.

"It seems like there will not be time for the Ark to be completed," Elite 4 added in her despairing tone. "The scientist even utilizing Pokémon assistance in the construction say that the first of the ships won't be ready for another decade and a half. Will the norther regions even be habitable by then?"

"The Mega project was not designed only to combat the divines, as I feel needed to remind this council. The Human Instrumentality project could make use of them- "the voice known clearly to the group as Lysandre was cut off."

"We need not shed our human forms to use the megas as our ark." Interrupted 5.

"We merely needed them as part of the process to initiate rebirth. This council could consider the original plan for the units as part of the new divine project?" suggested 12

"And yet we still have no sign of Celebii. Instituting a new divine could cause us to lose control of the megas Third Impact."

"That does not though answer the question about what is to be done about Third Impact."

"Instrumentality is the answer to that." Lysandre retorted, raising his voice among the conference. A series of noes and rebuttals vied for air time on the call.

"Perhaps if it is the will of Arceus that mankind meet its end at the pinnacle of its progress- "Elite 9 managed to sneak in his zealous dogma.

"Is it not clear that Arceus has abandoned the world, or worse created Second Impact itself? Why would god bring death?"

"Through the sacrament of all being one will bring about rebirth, as in the scrolls. Death creates nothing." Lysandre muttered. It was not unnoticed.

"This council has time and again voted against Instrumentality. Lysandre were you to take steps toward its complete we would have no choice but to intervene" Struck down Elite 1. In a huff, the head of FLARE left the call. His second, Xerosic was left struggling to explain, but no one was listening. Soon, he too was cut off, as Elite 1 called for silence.

"This council will now decide."

"FLARE has served its purpose bring us the megas and dealing with the divine. We need to keep the organization around with Lysandre in control, even if we wish to use the megas as the new divine." Elite 6 chimed in.

"We cannot let Third Impact come to pass."

* * *

Den mother. At one point in time she was an actual solider with some worth in the military, and now al she was known for around here was that. She remembered when she had people respect her for her rank. Hell, she'd killed people in the line of duty before. But no, just because she was a woman, the only woman in Lysandre's inner circle within this magical scientific nightmare of a place besides that strange Dr. Celosia, that meant she had to look after the kids.

So sure, she took them into her home, into her apartment, made sure that went to school, while they still had one around here, at least, and made sure they played nice when sent into the field to fight the divines with those monstrosities they could barely call Pokémon. What if she wanted a night off? What if she wanted to go out, get drunk, and made a bad decision with some hot guy she barely knew? Nope, she had to be on duty 24/7 nowadays. Though, if she really was honest to herself, it's not life she'd ever really do that anymore. She hadn't been that same wild girl since August.

The professor and a soldier. Not the first combination people went for. She met him first when she was just starting on the base, back when FLARE was first formed. He and Lysandre would get into the longest of debates about this and that, but he always had his eye on her. He could do this thing with his eyes that made one dance and feel like he was looking right down into one's very soul and he would pull out that small intimate part of you, that little, girl, even the toughest of soldiers thought they had long since buried. It was funny, he specialized in pokemon, but he always made her feel the most human.

Which is why, even now, ages after she had last seen him, felt like she owed it to August Sycamore to investigate his lettered request.

Major Aliana didn't hate her job, really. There was a sort of peace not being directly on the battlefield that one could find comfort in. She would place herself more as one of the generals among FLARE, residing under the organizations leader, but still impactful. But that only went so far with her. At least, though, she could take some sort of pride in being one of the chosen few handpicked to save the world from the divines. It didn't, however, mean that she agreed with everything their fearless leader did, or said.

Most notably, even though I was her main job here at FLARE, she disagreed with the use of the children. Sure, young teens always left their mother's and father's nest around that age to being their trek across the countryside to explore the world and come into their own around that age. She too remembers growing up back in Hoenn and traveling alongside her best friends Annabelle and Jordan, as the three of them went from gym to gym battling and braving the wilds. Out of the three of them, only she ever made it to the Pokémon league, though even she claimed defeat there. Back then she had a medicham that was the funniest thing ever, always pulling pranks on her when it got the chance, or her zigzagoon she had had since she was barely older than a baby. But that was different. Sure kids got hurt and all out in the wilds, but overall they were fine. There's always a difference between adventure and war. Pokecenters were littered around the world, ensuring the safe care and health of any trainer and their team, and the routes people traveled were never too remote to not see strangers that always would lend a helping hand. In war, people died, children cried, and Pokémon and human like did unspeakable things. This was war, this battle against the divine. A war fought by children as the adults looked on from the safety of their underground bunker.

So she did her best to make life for the three youths meaningful and happy. Truth be told though, her best was never good enough. She never wanted children. The topic came up between her and August during the good times a bit, with august always trailing her resounding no with maybes and perhapses. She wasn't actually the three's mother, she knew it, and more importantly they did too. Out of everyone on the base, most of the staff were in their 20-30s, like most military organizations. She was no different, and despite her famous record, she was a lot closer to the children's ages than her peers within FLARE command. So she tried to be less of a figure of authority, and more of a sister to them.

They were quite different, the three kids. Serena was the loudest, and fiercest. The girl relished her role within the organization as the trainer partner to Gyarados Red. Aliana thought that she might even be able to take on the world, maybe even become one of the Elites one day, if anyone of them had that much time left. Then there was Shauna, who despite being the quietest, was also the most independent. When she was introduced to the girl by Lysandre, Aliana asked if she wanted to live with her, but the young woman turned her down. She had a small apartment within the main complex, and spent most of her time in there, though Aliana didn't know what that might entail. It was also so hard to read that girl, her emotions were like a minor ripple on a vast still lake, unnoticeable unless you knew where and how to look. And then there was Calem.

She felt sorry for the boy, which probably didn't help. If she gave him freedom to do whatever he wanted with his day he'd do nothing, but if she tried to get him to do anything he'd rebel. It didn't help that the relationship between him and his father was one even she didn't want to touch with a ten foot pole. So she just let him be, always trying to be there when his depression got too much, but even then he'd just shy away like hugs or kind words were hot glass to his skin.

So she owed it not to just August, but to these kids as well to find out that secret that FLARE was keeping even from her, as according to the letter Sycamore left for her.

Being so high up on the food chain, it was easy enough walking through FLARE HQ into the very belly of the beast. Her credentials got her far, and her skills she so long go picked up got her even further. August Sycamore had left her a note, claiming that something so obviously true was a lie. That Second Impact was no meteor.

* * *

Red.

Flashing Red.

Bryonny's fingers could barely move to keep up with what she had to type as warnings and systems went either offline or unreachable one by one. The flashing of the red alert lights nor did the siren's help. It's not like she hadn't heard them before, but those were during divine attacks. This was entirely human.

"Outside connections lines 1-17 are being systematically severed!" Kaguya shouted.

"They've breached the 4th firewall! I can't lock the main database!" added Albin.

Xerosic rushed into the command center, spilling coffee along the way. The look on his face was unreadable, but harsh. "Initiate protocol 076, seal all exits!" he barked.

Fingers flew and keys clacked, one by one red and yellow turned to green and black. They had initiated divine attack proceedings. This wasn't good in any sense of the word.

"Sir! What's going on?" Kaguya asked while trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"Trojan attack detected! Quarantining lower drives!"

"Is the Porygon compromised?" Xerosic demanded.

"Infiltration is infection systems at accelerating rate, if we don't act now the Porygon system will be completely compromised within 15 minutes!" Bryonny shouted back. The commander furled his brow and let out a huff.

"Get me Dr. Celosia. And someone go inform Lysandre. We're on lockdown" Xerosic commanded.

* * *

He threw her in a hole. And to think she called him lover at one point.

Lysandre was the type of guy who could spin grand tales that anyone could not help but get caught up in with his words. He possessed vision, and the charisma to convince others of it as well. When the man recruited her for this project, she scoffed at it at first. But he elaborated in ways that no man, woman, or pokemon could ever say no to. He was, beautiful, both in mind and in body. But, as she had so terribly found out, not beautiful of soul.

What a fool she was in believing in that man. That person who had become a monster in the process of fighting monsters. He who gazed into the abyss, and the abyss gazed back at him. Well, now she knew, that upon her gazing at him, she too had the attention of the void.

Dr. Celosia earned her reputation as a PhD studying computer science back in Unova, partnering with the great Dr. Fennel on digitizing and studying the link between pokemon dreams and reality. She should have stayed there, we her dear friend and partner, yet the allure of the project, of Lysandre was too great.

Around a few decades ago, a strange creature emerged from the deps of the labs of men of science. Porygon, the first artificially created pokemon became reality. They claimed it was digital data brought to life, but the act of just how this came to be was unknown. Despite all of mankind's millennia of knowledge about the creatures, they still had yet to master everything about them. True, it wasn't the first time a strange pokemon came into existence. Professor Juniper back in Unova based her entire dissertation on the existence of a pokemon that to all outward appearances was just a collection of floating, rotating gears given life, Klink. How this thing naturally evolved from organic process was an outright mystery, and its resemblance to machinery uncanny. It evolved by assimilating more of its kind into its body, fusing together into a hive-mind like structure until its became what was colloquially known as a Klinklang. She concluded in her research that its kind literally did not exist more than a 100 years ago, as nothing in the fossil or mythical record even hinted at its predecessors' existence. Pokemon, it seemed, evolved from their environment. The nature of Porygon, in that light made somewhat sense. Mankind had just entered the digital age, and lo and behold along with it came a digital pokemon.

Around this time, as well, were the first adoption of digital storage centers. While the technique for creating pokeballs was as old as the age of sail, the idea of transferring their contents into another computerized medium was revolutionary. The Kantian Bill, who pioneered the technology rapidly became a household name soon after, as it became a possibility to not only store hundreds of pokemon in digital space, but also trading between regions became less of a physical affair, and took drastically less time. Pokeballs wored by transcribing the physical being of a pokemon into what was known as DeMalgian energy. Like in their pokeballs, digitized pokemon acted as if they were in a kind of stasis, their physical forms transferred into nodes of pure, DeMalgian energy before being released unto the world at a later date. The creatures didn't seem to mind the treatment, had they expressed distaste in mass numbers the practice of even pokeball storage would have been outlawed and discontinued generations before. Yet Porygon was different. Unlike its brethren, it seemed to maintain consciousness when in its energy form, in fact thriving and interfacing with computers as easily as if it were using a keyboard.

From there, the idea became simple. By digitizing a porygon and keeping it within the computer system itself, the user could task the creature to help with computations and other applications. In practice, this became so much more. With the backing of the Elites and Lysandre's urging, Dr. Celosia bred and create a porygon which could outpace even the best of supercomputers at that date. The system was brilliant in its inception, with scripts and programs designed so the pokemon could easily interface and improve them. And the invention had earned her Lysandre's attention, and love, at least for a time.

And oh, what a time it was.

Instrumentality. The idea first leaked from his lips one night as they both laid in bed, wrapped in each other's arms. It was a novel idea. A way to bring all mankind together, as one, without any of the separations that keep us from fully knowing one another. Back then it sounded like a dream, a dream whispered by a man who made his living pedaling those to people in power, and eventually making them real. But Lysandre couldn't do that. He was aptly named, too, because Lysandre was full of lies.

The door to her cell opened, and one of the guards presented himself.

"So those were sirens I heard." She told the guard without meeting his gaze. "And you've come to me to help with the Porygon's self-defense system?"

"I'm going to need you to come with me mam, but you seem to have the lot of it." The guard said, his hand outstretched to her. She got up, but didn't take it.

"He expects the woman he abandons to jump when he calls. That arrogant bastard," Dr. Celosia muttered under her breath. She wished she could tell the guard to go do something obscene, in the vain hopes that Lysandre would get the message. However, the porygon systems were hers, her babies, her children, her pokemon. As much as she hated Lysandre, she loved her creations, and would do anything to see them safe.

* * *

One thing she had resisted even unto this day were heels. They were completely impractical, made walking or even running difficult to impossible, and caused one's feet hurt even after just an hour in them. So what if they made a woman look prettier or more professional? Aliana wore flats and swore by them. In times like these, there was a reason as well. She dashed through the hallways at top speed, trying to ignore the flashing lights all around her. This was not good. Not good at all.

"Talk to me!" She yelled into the phone.

"They only gave us the one warning. We barely had time to respond at all when the cyber-attack came. It can't be just from one place, we're getting high network traffic on all of the lines in and out that we have left!" Kaguya responded.

"Bryonny here," She added in, "Xerosic gave the order to have Dr. Celosia install additional defense software to the three porygon systems. Its keeping them out but I don't know for how long. She's amazing at this."

"Got it, and give me the updates on the remaining megas when you can". She hung up. Surprise attacks like this weren't just some random rogue organization like Rocket or Galactic. FLARE was supposed to have the backing of the Elites, and now this?

She stopped in the hallway on a dot. The kids. FLARE had a few things to it that made it unique and valuable, with the entire organization devoted to their development. The porygon system was one, a supercomputer above all supercomputers. The others were the megas, and the children who were their partners. An attack on one meant an attack on all of them.

"Kaguya, give me to last known locations of the kids. We need to move them to the inner base as soon as we can!" Aliana demanded.

Kaguya, Bryonny, and Albin worked away furiously at the keys. This wasn't good. Behind them, Lysandre entered the command center without a word, but everyone immediately knew he was there. The man was tall, and carried himself with a presence few men had. His large shock of red hair stood on end, as if nothing in the world could break his calm demeanor. Not even when the world was against him.

"Thanks to Dr. Celosia, we've managed to halt their cyber assault on the Porygon systems for now. But we've learned something far worse. There appears to me a large massing of military personal and troops advancing on the city. I think they intend to take this base by force." Xerosic reported.

"Of course," Lysandre responded. "We've got both Yveltal and Xerneas. Let them come."

Xerosic looked back at the leader of FLARE with confused eyes. That meeting earlier with the Elites still fresh on his mind. Did Lysandre know about this in advance? Did the council always have this course of action in mind when they set up FLARE? In that case, why let the megas and the two seeds co-exist within the same space?

"The old bastards are too nervous." Xerosic added. "Have we not done our duty? To not trust us after even all this time is madness." Lysandre did not respond.

* * *

"My men are reporting that the Lumiose Porygon system has been encrypted with a 64-bit file chain, and set up behind a three-layer firewall. While possible, it'll take us around 3 years to crack." Elite 4 reported.

"Lysandre is a tough bastard. He knew we were coming." General Surge gruffed. The conference call with the Elites wasn't going the way he hopped. He was no stranger to combat, but ever since he retired from the military years ago to become a gym leader, war left a sour taste in his mouth. It was only Second Impact that made him reenlist, and subsequently got him promoted from Lieutenant. He wanted this to be crisp and clean. A shutdown of the porygons would have crippled the base, and no one would have had to get hurt. Not so, apparently.

"They leave us no choice. Launch the invasion force now." Elite 1 ordered.

General Surge's tactics were not complicated. FLARE headquarters was set up underground, with its access to the outside world limited by design. What were precautions enacted against the divines would be used to his advantage. They were set up for combat against massive creatures with fearsome power, which meant conventional explosives and ordinances wouldn't work. They could outlast anything they threw at the place. No, the strategy would be to use their advantages against them.

He had the infantry units move in, and set the aerial squadron ahead. Flying pokemon and their partners would circle the base and systematically cut off any and all communication or surveillance equipment FLARE had. The Elites funded the FLARE project, and thus had an exact layout of the base's construction. General Surge only prayed that it was still accurate, and that the snake Lysandre didn't alter or lie in any of the details. He knew better than to expect that though.

The plan was to set the infantry units to FLARE's main gates and try to pry their way inside as a distraction. The main force would tunnel underneath with the help of the pokemon excadrill and come up from underneath. FLARE was built to survive blasts from above, not insurgents from below.

* * *

Calem tried not to panic. The worst part about trying not to panic is the fact that one knows they really are afraid, but they must summon the courage to pretend not to be. The halls were empty, and the alert locked down all the windows and doors to the outside. He could hear explosions in the distance. Was this another divine attack? But Aliana promised they were all dealt with! Even Mew, they were all gone.

" _They're coming for you. For us."_

He ran through the halls, confused, until he bumped into Shauna. The two fell over, and Calem fell on top of the girl. In a rush fueled by hormones, he jumped off her.

"Sorry, sorry…" he apologized. Shauna didn't respond. She wasn't like Serena, who always berated and hated him. The two sat up. "Do you… do you know what's going on?"

She looked at him, then through him, in some cold stare. He was glad to see she was doing better since she left the hospital last week, but she had become even more detached since then.

" _It's because you killed Y."_

"This whole base might not be here soon. What are you going to do about it, Calem?" She asked.

"What am I going to do about it? Why do I have to do anything at all? What do you think I can even do?" Calem responded. She got up and took a couple steps towards the window that had long since been sealed behind plate steel reinforcements. No light poured in from them.

Shauna and him first met during the third divine attack. Calem barely lived through the first encounter with Zapdos, and X hated him for it. The pokemon that was supposed to be his partner haunted him, in his waking, and in his dreams, sending him visions of his failures, and taunting the boy. When the second Divine attacked, the freezing Articuno, Calem could barely get the ring to work. X fought the bird alone, unpowered by the might of the ring, and almost died because of it. The biting cold flowing off the great divine nearly managed to freeze Calem and X to death. Articuno was once known as the bird of the winter calm, sending flurries across the land and making for white winter days. But in its fury, it was the blizzard incarnate. Calem spent nearly an entire day underneath a heated blanket trying to recover. He still swore he had frostbite in his left foot.

The failure of X and him to work together during the fight with Articuno left the adults no choice but to bench Calem. He remembered Aliana chiding him with harsh words, but that might have been how he imagined it. He certainly didn't imagine the look of disgust on his father's face though.

Shauna was seen on the base soon after. The FLARE project he learned was never only about X. There was always plans to expand and create more megas. Y was the second, and she was paired with the new girl. Y and X were related, two cuts from the same cloth of Giovanni's making. Whereas X was strong and tough, capable to taking anything heaven was capable of throwing at him and returning it tenfold, Y was quick and preferred to work from a distance. Shauna and Y immediately synced, but in a different way than Calem and his. Whereas X demanded Calem rise to the challenge, Y took control of Shauna completely, with the girl serving as her puppet. It honestly freaked him out, seeing the young woman controlled by the pokemon like some psychic marionette.

Outside of battle, he never really got to know her. She didn't talk, not much anyways, and anytime he tried to know anything else she would bare a lot more than he was expecting. The awkwardness of the situations caused Calem to retreat like some scared puppy.

" _You couldn't possibly make her happy."_

"If you would excuse me then, Calem, Lysandre needs me." And then there was that. Calem's hair was brown and shaggy like his mother's. Most people said he looked more Johtoan than Kalosian, but he was a straight mix between the two. What memories he had of his mother were rare, and beautiful. He remembered her smile most of all, and how when he scrapped his entire back falling down a hill on his bike one summer she carried him home and made even the pain caused by the accident melt away. Every once in a while, he had the idea that maybe if he dyed his hair, and maybe if he looked a little bit less like his mother, that his father might look at him and actually acknowledge Calem for once. But that was a fool's dream, a dream which X chided him for. So, it pained him the most, knowing that this girl, this young woman had the eye of the man he most wanted to appease, Lysandre, his father.

She left down the hallways and into the stairwell, descending down into the very heart of FLARE headquarters, down to the red headed leader of this accursed place.

" _If you were stronger, this all wouldn't be happening"_

Calem curled into a ball, as the sounds of violence echoed in the distance.


	2. Part 2

"We've got multiple breaches down in the lower corridors! It looks like they tunneled in!" Bryonny reported quickly.

"I want Serena moved down to the second mega bay now." Aliana ordered over the phone. She still hadn't found Calem. At least Shauna had answered her cell phone when called. Calem had the bad habit of letting the damn thing ring endlessly and ignoring everyone. This was the worst time for it to happen now, though.

"Serena's still unconscious and under medical care. Her doctors are suggesting against-"

"I don't care what the doctors say! If we don't move her she'll be as good as dead within the hour! At least next to Gyarados Red she'll have a protector." Alianna had search half of everywhere at this point. He wasn't in the apartment, wasn't in the school area, and anywhere else might as well be a giant guess. She cursed. Lysandre used his own child as part of this experiment to save the world, and then expected everyone else to take care of him like he wasn't the boy's parent. Maybe if that arrogant old bastard took responsibility for his progeny once in his life they wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe she wouldn't be scrambling through the endless halls and corridors of the base looking for his kid when the red headed man could have just called for his boy that would have jumped if he said so.

Explosions rocked the ceiling sending dust falling from the rafters.

"Security personal are engaged in combat, I've got reports of gunfire and pokemon attacks in all outer sectors! We're locking down the command center now!" A pause, Bryonny was barely keeping it together. "How can we do this? How can we fight other humans?"

Aliana stopped running for a second. "Divine, humans, pokemon, whatever. There's one thing I know and that there's no difference between the lot of them. If someone is trying to kill you, you do the sane thing and fight back. War is hell, you know that, I know that. So pull yourself together!"

"R-right. Yes mam!" Bryonny acknowledged. "Transmissions form the southern hub have been interrupted. The west side launch tunnel has been overrun."

"I knew it, they're going for the megas. You lock down those hubs as soon as Serena gets there. I'm on my way with Calem right now!" She hung up. If they really needed her the phone would call right back.

She turned the corner, then another, then climbed the back stairs. Lo and behold here he was, the first child, curled up into a ball, muttering nonsense to himself. She didn't have time for this. As she approached, she heard footsteps from the other hall, and the telltale cocking of a gun.

"First child found. What do you want me to do sir?" Shit. She pulled out her own gun and booked it.

"Right, eliminating". The two soldiers pointed their barrels at the head of Calem. The boy didn't even flinch, nor more, nor react. What was wrong with this kid? Did he not have an ounce of self-preservation in his body?

"Sorry kid, nothing persona- "She cold clocked him in the jaw with a pistol whip before he could even finish the phrase. The second one turned on her, apparently as shocked to see her come out of the shadows of the second hallways as his partner was to feel cold steel knock his jaw out of alignment from nowhere. She tumbled out of his way and fired several shots. Two at the one still standing, and two more to the one with a broken jaw. They both fell flat onto the ground. Their Pokémon, which were guarding the hallways turned in fear and anger. An arcanine is supposed to be a lucky creature, the large dogs were prized for their majestic orange and black stripped fur coating. Aliana shot two in the head before they could roast her in flames. In another life, that would have brought her 14 years bad luck. She didn't care now, not like she even had 14 years left to live.

"Hey, no offense taken."

* * *

FLARE was resisting. As General Surge predicted, the tunneling teams he sent in were able to break into the outer layers of the complex without problem. They had fallen for the ruse of the surface troops and placed most of their units close to the true exits. As of now his men were washing through the complex. He had standing orders to not shoot anyone attempting to surrender, but those quickly fell through. War was never pretty, never regimented, and never turned out the way one expected. As a great man once said, no amount of tactics nor strategy ever survives first contact with the enemy. Reports from the men in the inside were that the battles had turned bloody. It was only going to get worse, though, as they made their way deeper into the FLARE headquarters. Lysandre had lied on the schematics, the inner tunnels and corridors possessed bulk head doors that would take quite some time to break though.

Standard protocol was to use explosive ordinances and blast their way as deep as they could, but he gave one order above all during this engagement: that no explosive was to be used at all. Did it cripple his men? Sure, but the idea of waking the slumbering beast which laid within gave him nightmares.

At night, his dreams returned him to his gym in Vermilion City. Being a gym leader was no slouch, as pokemon trainers from all over constantly challenged him and his staff to pokemon combat, in the hopes that they would earn their thunder badge and be one step closer to the pokemon league. He specialized in electric types, a tradition of the city's gym even before he took it over after the war. It was fun, actually. Gyms were designed not only to check the strength of a person's pokemon, but also their minds. The league encouraged its leaders to design elaborate traps and puzzles for people to work through. His entailed utilizing his little-known degree in engineering, which is got thanks to a grant from his military service. Electromagnetic fields permeated the gym, invisible to the eye, but not to the touch. By scattering them around the building he created an entirely invisible labyrinth that constantly shifted and changed when challengers rerouted the complex's power lines. They weren't deadly, but they shocked any of the fools who just decided to waltz right on through.

Being the leader was one of the better parts of the job, he still had to deal with the daily minutia of civic duties to the city, but it was a nice life, a quiet life. He chuckled remembering one challenger who came into the gym wearing a full rubber suit; the girl walked right through the place completely unaffected by the security system. Was it cheating? He absolutely didn't think so and were it not for the rules requiring that she battle him, he would have given her the badge right then and there. He always meant to try and find out what became of her, he would have definitely hired her as one of the gym trainers if she ever dared to ask.

Yet that was then, in another life, another time. Now he was back on the battlefield, conducting missions which the council stressed were with the fate of the world on the line. He didn't want to believe their story at first, especially since it came from Elite 5, who when he stopped by for meetings during his gym leader days always had a bit of a comedian streak to her. But they stressed it was all true, ever word. Well, every word except the lies.

Second Impact was not a meteor. That was a story told to the press, a fabrication to keep the public from learning a far worse truth. The meteor cover was used to explain not only the scope and scale of the destruction, but to make it seem like it couldn't wouldn't happen again. A cataclysmic event that only occurred last 65 million years ago? Little Timmy and his mother might be homeless now, but that would be fixed in the future, and they need not worry about another striking the earth. Celestial events just didn't happen like that.

2 years prior to the event, roughly 7 years ago now, a man name Cyrus lead a terrorist organization known as Galactic in the Sinnoh region. They weren't widespread, and much smaller than others like that which appeared in his own region of Kanto, but their members were fiercely dogmatic. Sinnoh as a whole was more religious than most regions of the world, which didn't help in quelling the organization. Cyrus believed he had a way to summon Arceus himself into the world, and claimed he would rewrite the universe in his image, in an attempt to rid the world of all pain and suffering. With his followers behind him, he ascended the sacred mountain Coronet, but was promptly dealt with by the local authorities. Officially his story ended there.

Unofficially, Cyrus was never caught. The raid on Mount Coronet left his organization in shambles. The problem with basing one organization on dogmatic zealotry is that when one can't prove their beliefs, doubt destroys the cause. What happened next was only known due to the efforts of the Lookers, the international intelligence agency that dealt with the cleanup of the event. Cyrus escape the mountain top, but he wasn't empty handed. He didn't attain the power of God itself, Arceus, but he found something valuable none the less. These were dubbed the Mount Coronet Scrolls, an ancient collection of texts and treatise which among other things told the location of what was referred to as the 'seeds of life'.

Second Impact was direct result of his folly. Summoning what little remained of his organization, he and his followers enacted a pilgrimage to the farthest corner of the world. There at the South Pole they encountered the creatures Xerneas an Yveltal, frozen as if in the midst of destroying each other for the past unto millennia. Second impact was the result of them awakening dead gods.

General Surge had one task. To stop it from happening again.

* * *

There was no need for Lysandre to be in the command center. While he was the head of FLARE, the day to day operations of the organization were normally taken care by Xerosic. He was a firm believer in delegation, and swore that anything that needed his direct supervision wasn't run by competent people. FLARE was competent. Xerosic, Dr. Celosia, Aliana, and the rest of the staff more or less oversaw themselves while the project was in full swing. It was better that way. Back when he worked in the private sector, he had research teams that constantly and consistently failed to make any progress on their projects unless he went over every single detail. It was cumbersome, held up development, and in his mind, the researchers didn't deserve their jobs.

Even now, with the base on full alert as the world bore down on them, FLARE was in motion. Xerosic barked orders left and right, which as he could tell gave the insurgent forces hell. The council's attempt at taking over the porygon system that ran FLARE was a resounding failure, thanks to the work of Dr. Celosia. She might be a traitor, but she was perfection incarnate when it came to computer science.

He knew what this was about, and expected it for a while now. The Elites were too conservative, always erring on the side of tradition over progress or discovery. Bill's creation of the pokemon storage system took eons to be approved for use on a global scale, with some of the members thinking it to be sacrilege or inhumane to the creatures they stored. He hated backwards thinkers.

The Megas project was his child. To fight gods, what would one use but a great devil? The discovery of Yveltal was one of those moments which changed the course of history. Most saw only the destruction the seeds brought, but he saw opportunity. Yveltal's body, even in its dormant state, was toxic to pokemon, yet to humans, it was as normal as water. He found that its blood, which when purified and refined, could enact great changes.

He got up out of his command chair, and demanded the grunt at the exit let him through. She gave him a questioning look, after all the command center was supposed to be in tier 1 lockdown, but nobody questioned Lysandre within FLARE and did not regret it. Her hesitation lasts naught but a moment, and she quickly entered the release code into the keypad. Xerosic took notice of the director making his way into the halls, but did not try to stop him.

Shauna was waiting for him. When the attack began, he ordered her down to the antechambers of the base. He wished, that he had more time, but it was now or never. Had he done this within his own schedule, he would have waited for Shauna to be 100%, but reality never matched expectations. Not since Yui showed him the painful truth of the world.

The elevators still worked. One benefit to the underground complex was that even in the midst of crisis, everything was designed for function just fine. The trip was quick, and he soon found himself in his office, with Shauna awaiting him inside. Lysandre could have put his main working area anywhere. Part of the base extended topside, and even though the city streets were still and the buildings were partial ruined, the view of Lumiose was grand. Lysandre didn't care about that. His office was down below, overlooking a large holding area. He chose this specific room because of its proximity to the seeds.

Shauna stood in the office, looking into its windows and down below. He could tell where her gaze lie, onto the sleeping form of Xerneas below. The red headed man wondered, could she see what the sleeping god saw? Could she hear what the sleeping god dreamed? Xerneas lied dormant, encased within a glass and steel containment unit. The creature wasn't alien in form, it resembled any deer-like pokemon, though when one looked at it, their eyes seemed to play tricks on them. At first it seemed stale, with muted blues and greys coloring its hide, culminating in silver tipped legs and grey antlers. Yet the more one looked, the more its form changed and danced. First, were the antlers, slowing up surely erupting in a multitude of color, as if they contained an hundred million tiny points of like, all different and mimicking the hues and shades of the rainbows. This brilliance then surely made its way down to its coating, engulfing the creatures in a symphony of light only the eyes could see, and which cast no shadow. What secrets did the creature hold, what knowledge did its radiance foretell?

On the opposite side of the holding bay named terminal dogma stood a giant, black egg, which pulsated ever so slowly with a deep red light. This was Yveltal, in its dormant form. Some of the Elites questioned the logic of keeping the two seeds together in such close proximity, was it not their awakening that destroyed the world? Truth there was to that mode of thinking, but Lysandre's glibness won out. When the council learned about the real cause of Second Impact, they had to act. Letting the two seeds stay within the South Pole was no option, and letting the run rampant was even worse. Through some manner of science and psychic sorcery, the two seeds were quelled, at least for foreseeable future, but they needed to be contained.

Their first move was to a research facility in Johto. The idea was to study them, to try and learn more about just what these beings were. Were they pokemon? Or something more? That was two years ago, and no coincidence with the first attack from the divines. They hunted the two seeds. Anywhere the council moved them, a divine was sure to follow, and destruction came with them. Even the strongest trainers, and the full might of the military was no match for such powerful beings. By this time, Lysandre's mega project was nearly complete, and he proposed an idea to the Elites. Let him protect the seeds, and he would fight fire with fire.

With the megas, humanity scored its first win against the heavens.

"How are you feeling, Shauna?" Lysandre asked the young woman. All the megas in the project were unique, and even Y and X were nearly complete opposites despite coming from the same species. The partnered trainers were no different. Serena's hot headedness matched Gyarados Red flawlessly. His son, though, was a disappointment. Shauna's uniqueness came from birth.

Historians and archeologists have always had a hard time classifying pokemon and where humanity fit in to the geological time scale. Currently pokemon taxonomy focused as much on the species affinity as it did their entomological origin. Pokemon seemingly adapted themselves to their environments, which caused strange cases. Within the breedable egg group of the dragons and reptiles, you had nearly every single elemental type variety. Heck, even between crocodiles, one had the opposites of the water-loving feraligatr and the water-phobic krookodile. In past centuries, one of the prevailing ideas was that humankind were an offshoot of a former psychic type primate. Mental powers in pokemon aren't uncommon, but in humans they were extremely rare. In Kanto, there was a famous gym in Saffron City led by a mesmerist known for her hypnotic power, Sabrina. She considered herself the forefront on human psychic research, and is part of the reason why children in grade school get tested nowadays for traces of the gift.

Shauna was gifted. Her scores were incredible, and it showed in her strange and uncanny ability to dream glimpses of the future. She was reported to have dreamt a week in advance that a fire would burn her house down while she was 5, but back then nobody took the child's visions seriously, and her parents lost their lives as a result. Perhaps her gift was the cause, but she grew up more emotionally stunted than her peers. Getting the girl to talk was a struggle in and of itself, it was like she knew what everyone would say before they'd say it. Lysandre saw her potential, and took her under his wing, as the perfect partner for the mega Y. He wondered if she knew how this all would end today.

"I feel them. Their pain." she responded quietly, barely above a whisper.

"War is always pain." Lysandre walked over to the girl and took her by the hand. "It's time for us to do something about that. Come, let's make it all better."

* * *

The radio chatter wasn't promising. The military forces had taken a gamble and managed to storm their way into the terrarium bays, though they had taken over the wrong one. Y had long since been dead, and though its cage remained, it was empty. It was only a matter of time before they got to Gyarados Red and X. Aliana listened in to the device she stole from the bodies of the soldiers she had killed. The plan was to separate the partners from the megas.

"This is it Calem. Are you going to run away or are you going to fight alongside X?" she barked at the boy. He didn't respond, just sat there, curled up in a ball, his head buried within his knees.

"If you sit there and do nothing you're already dead!" She yelled.

A whisper, so light she barely realized that she heard it, came from the child. "Help me, Serena…"Aliana fumed.

"Hiding behind the skirts of a little girl won't get you anywhere! Snap out of it, Calem! Giving up halfway is worse than never trying at all!" She grabbed him by the arm, and pulled. "Come on! Get up." He hung there like a ragdoll, limp in the wrist and without any of his own volition.

"Move it!" she yelled, her words having no effect on the boy. Calem had only been getting worse and worse in the time she knew him. X was strong, far stronger than the other two megas, but Calem was unreliable. By the time of the 5th Divine, Calem and X had been relegated to support behind Serena and Shauna. Serena took to the fight like a fish to water. No so Calem.

X was destructive. Their battles resulted in more and more of the city going to rubble over time. True, not all of it was his fault, as the divines called little for the creations of man. Yet Calem seemed to internalize it all.

"I deserve to die…" another hushed whisper from the boy's mind. Suicide wasn't the answer to anything, nothing good came from death. She first noticed it weeks ago. One of the last divines was Volvanion, a living island which spewed magma like it was missiles and commanded the waves. The creature was shaped like a giant turtle with a volcano growing out of its back; trees and beaches lined its shell. Lumiose isn't too far from the ocean, but the island pokemon myth tore its own new waterway from it to the city. The three kids were deployed that day, with Serena immediately empowering her mega. They had a plan, created by Xerosic. Gyrados Red had an affinity for water, and could survive the island's onslaughts better than the others. It was to lead Volcanion into a valley away from the city, where X and Y laid waiting, accompanied by an elaborate series of traps.

This… didn't go as planned.

Volcanion wasn't easy to lead, nor control, it spewed indiscriminate destruction everywhere. Even with the power of her parent mega, Serena was caught within one of the islands eruptions. Calem went berserk, and the power of his ring fueled the mega evolution of X. She saw it in them, during their side glances at each other at the breakfast table, or at night when neither wanted to leave the living room to go to bed until it was too late. And yet, on the surface, the two bickered endlessly.

X broke the plan and charged the divine. The fight got ugly from there, and Shauna with Y tried their best. But even with all their power, even the megas were not immortal. Y died, burned alive, and the psychic backlash sent Shauna into a coma for a week.

"Just leave me here…" Calem barely said. Aliana had had enough.

"Like it or you're still alive, so get moving and do something!" She dragged him through the halls by his arm, not caring if the action caused him pain. "You can die later."

Aliana checked her cell. Bryonny had been texting her updates of the base's situation. The entire west wing was under their control now, and it seemed like the only way to X now was the anterior service tunnels. It would have to do. Eventually, her dragging of the boy turned into leading him firmly by the hand, as Calem finally got up and walked on his own two feet.

"I only learned this recently, but you deserve to know too." She began. The trip through the tunnels wasn't quick as the elevators. "The part that you do know is that the divine, they attack here because we lured them to. They want Xerneas, and we're here to stop them from getting to him. If they did, Third Impact would surely occur as the seed awakens. What you don't know is why."

"You see Calem, mankind and pokemon are vastly different lifeforms. Its only through millennia of contact that we've learned to life in harmony with each other. Xerneas and Yveltal, they don't know that. Each of us came from one of the seeds, with Xerneas being the seed of change and evolution, the progintor of all pokemon on this earth. Yveltal, likewise, begat man. We came from its blood. First impact wasn't the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, but Yveltal arriving on earth, a world already dominated by Xerneas's ilk. The two battled endlessly, until they struck each other a mortal blow. But dead gods do not die, and in strange aeons sleeping lie." Calem remained silent.

"Perhaps somewhere, out there in the vastness of space and time, there exists a world filled with just pokemon, or just humanity. Maybe they wouldn't have the problems we've had to face down here. But you don't live there, Calem, you live on earth. I want you to know the real reason for the megas existence, the real reason you are here. You, together with X, are to become the new divines, and it'll be up to you to fix this broken world."

* * *

The megas were at their core, pokemon. Lysandre and his team had designed three. The first two were X and Y, and they were clones of the devil known as Mewtwo. Back decades ago in Kanto, the mafia don Giovanni funded a research project to create himself the strongest pokemon. He somehow managed to get a hold of a strand of DNA from the being Mew, a mythical creature said to be the DNA link between all pokemon. The project created many genetic failures, creatures unable to maintain solid form for long, but able to clone themselves into just about anything. These were called dittos, and unfortunately have been sort of an ecological plague in parts of the world. However, one success was created, a powerful psychic creature named mew's second.

Giovanni instantly lost control of the pokemon, and due to its high intelligence, became a nightmare to the region. It was too young to understand and control itself, but emotionally highly unstable, and that resulted in a mass killing machine. It was only stopped by what some considered sheer luck, as the trainer Red, a prodigy, managed to wear it down enough for the recently created master ball to capture it.

Lysandre did not make the same mistakes Giovanni did. With the help of the porygon systems, he and his team were able to patch most of the inconstancies within mewtwo genetic code, and created two variants of the creature, which became X and Y. But those weren't the only megas produced. One of the strongest pokemon known to man is the sea serpent Gyarados, this draconic terror is a nightmare to sailors out on the open seas, where the creature is known to grow to 50 meters in length. A pack of the beats have been known to cause typhoons out at sea when they rage. The disconnect between the terror of its adult form, and the timidity of its juvenile self is massive, however. All Gyarados start off a Magikarp, a fish barely capable of doing anything. Gyarados adults release thousands of eggs into the ocean at a time, and barely one in that lot make it to adulthood. It's odd for the creature to be both at the bottom and top of the food chain within the same species.

Out of all the possible candidates, Lysandre chose this species for its genetic potential. If something so harmless could become something so terrible, what were to happen if science pushed its evolution even further?

Thus the third mega, Gyarados Red was created. The genetic tampering required to allow the creature to mega evolve changed its scale hue from the normal deep blue into a scintillating red. When it was filled with the power of the mega ring, the creature became mighty. Quite a few known divines possess psychic power, and mental assaults were common. While X and Y were quite adept as resisting them, Gyarados red was designed to be completely immune. In the taxonomic classification of pokemon species known as dark, each one exhibits a strange quality. Their brainwaves fluctuate and different frequencies than most creatures, and their patterns and habits enact strange quirks. Gyarados Red was engineered with these traits in mind, a creature that absolutely countered the power of the divines.

Of course, this made finding a partner for it all the much harder. How could a human expect to sync with a creature who was unsyncable? How could a trainer understand a creature designed to be unfathomable? Out of all the breaks and discoveries within the project, Lysandre considered the discovery of Serena to be the luckiest.

Emotionally, Serena was damn that had long since burst. She was willing and loved being the partner to Gyarados Red, but dealing with her was like dealing with a 2 year old that didn't understand how to act normally. One minute she was bubbly and happy, the next she was as furious as monsoon season. It wasn't entirely her fault, though, she had a metal disorder. Hyper Manic Bipolar was her official diagnosis. Like all the kids when they were young including Shauna, she too took the psychic sensitivity tests, though she failed them in literally every single category. The girl was about as gift as a box of rocks, according to normal standards. Lysandre saw differently. What he had was not a psychically-deprived child, but a young woman whose mental processes matched that of dark classified pokemon.

Gyarados Red was ready by the time of the 4th divine attack, and Serena have moved to Lumiose City and the FLARE base soon before. Like Calem, she lived under the roof of Major Aliana. What was it about the situation that irked her so much? Serena quickly rose in prominence after being added to the megas project as their most important asset. She and Gyarados Red performed far more than anyone's expectations even dared to dream. Their first divine attack, against the moon duck Cresselia was a testament to the term lightning blitz. Cresselia set up psychic screens that blocked literally anyone from entering, and gave X and Y a hell of a time fighting it. Gyarados Red and Serena waltz right through the barriers like they were made of water, and helped pin the divine long enough for support to arrive and finish it off.

Serena acted like she was better than the rest. The star child, the prodigy. Academically, her illness gave her a learning disability, but that meant she only absorbed information differently than others. When the curriculum was adapted to her, she excelled and drew straight As in all her subjects. Between divine attacks, the megas partners were still children, and they attended a special school in the base. Serena loved to rub it in the face of Calem when she did better than him, which was constantly. She tried to do the same with Shauna, but the second girl just didn't care. Or she cheated, and gleamed the answer to the tests from the future, which wasn't fair at all.

Calem was a moron in her eyes, an idiot, undeserving of the power of the mega ring. How come in angel fights she more often than not had to save his ass? She would have been better off without him. Before mew, the penultimate divine was Diancie, a crystalline fairy. Diancie was nigh invincible, its diamond body too hard to penetrate with normal attacks. Calem and X worked alongside Gyarados Red and Serena. Despite all their experience, and all their training, the two teams got in each other's ways like two sets of chords tangling together. With the loss of Y, the need for the two of them to work together increased greatly, and at Xerosic's suggestion, Serena and Calem took ballet.

Ballet isn't like other forms of dance. Club dancing relies on moving one's body anyway that felt natural, the act of moving more important that the moves themselves, most dances used these principles, and most people who profess they like dancing just like the combined feeling the endorphins give alongside the music. Ballet is a more regimented dance, almost like a musical number. The dancers play their parts in tandem, each movement by the participants enhancing the performance of the other, and one false move by any dancer could ruin the piece.

Diancie was diamond given motion. While it flew in asynchronous patterns and shone light refracted within its body and focused into near laser like proportions, it still had one weakness shared in all crystals; the shatter point. Kaguya was the first to figure it out, after running quick simulations on its body through the porygon system. If a single, powerful blow were to touch it just right, the divine would collapse like a thousand shards of glass. This is where the ballet came in. Both knew their orders, both knew the steps. As awkward as it was, a young girl dancing with a young boy, the two had a job. The dance went off, and X was able to launch Gyarados Red straight at Diancie, shattering it. Yet, Calem missed the last step, and Serna was send flying, the shards of Diancie piercing her.

It was Calem's fault she almost died, his fault she spent a week in bed, undergoing surgeries and healing from pokemon. The jerk.

But that was just an excuse. She was perfect, wasn't she? The prodigy, best at everything, partner to the greatest Gyarados that ever lived. And she almost let herself die, all because she put her trust in someone who didn't deserve it.

She didn't want to want to die.

She didn't want to want to die.

She didn't want to want to die.

She didn't want to want to die.

She didn't want to want to die.

Didn't they know she was hurt? That she was broken? That she wasn't the person she and they thought she was? Yet they thrust her out of bed and into the hangar bay, with the pokeball containing Gyarados Red in her hands.

She didn't want to want to die.

* * *

Crash.

Bryonny freaked out. The loud bang and smoke knocked her from her chair, and immediately after bullets and blasts of elemental energy started flying. She ducked under her desk and the panic set in. A Rhydon, a subterranean dwelling rhinoceros which stood on two legs had charged through the walls, bending steel and girder like they were clay. The enemy believed they had thought of everything. Rhydon spent their lives digging tunnels through solid rock, and steel needed only a little extra effort for the creature to destroy.

"Damn, they got it!" Albin cursed. The command centered was tiered, with the insurgents below them on the lower floor. He pulled a gun from under the command console. Guards on the sides threw pokeballs and shot their weapons. The battle had come to the very heart of FLARE.

"I figured we could hold them longer than this. Guess they got serious with the rhydon charges." Kaguya spat. Bryonny sat frozen. Albin thrust a gun in her face.

"Take it! Throw your pokemon out!" he barked. She looked at him and tears formed.

"I can't! I can't kill humans and pokemon!"

"You idiot! You fight or you die!"

Above them in the third tier of central command, Xerosic sat down in his chair. Whatever Lysandre was planning he needed to do it quick. Using kids was his first concern when he was told about the mega project, but Lysandre talked him into it. And now they were both unreliable and unable to fulfill their duty. On his console, he entered a command.

Down in the sever room, a certain doctor watched the feed of the battle raging within central command. She noticed a distinct absence of a certain figure. It was starting, she knew it. And she would do anything to stop it.

* * *

Soldiers flooded into the hangar bay. She couldn't make out their faces, as each was covered by a helmet and visor, making them the ideal picture of the faceless mook in her mind. Guns were pointed at her, with laser beads dancing all over her body. She stood then, hair falling all over her fact. How could she do anything? Half her body was still broken, with casts and bandages covering her limbs. She wasn't Calem, but what was she really? The Serena that existed within her own heart had always been invincible, stronger, determined, and perfect. Who could look at her now, and say that those two were anywhere near the same person?

"Unit 7 Reporting! Securing the east launch bay now!" one of the soldiers stated. Behind them their small continent of pokemon guarded their backs and the door.

This was it.

"Target found! We have the third child! Commencing Termination."

She didn't want to want to die.

Or did she?

Humans are the only creature capable of hating its own self. Animals have questionable consciousness. They know they exists, and they do not question that fact. Why is it that humans deny the idea of living? All being experiencing the pain of life, the suffering, the struggle, yet the will to live on drive them. The cutifly, a pokemon native to the island chain of Alola, lives for months in its juvenile form, only to undergo its metamorphic evolution into a rimbombee, a being with no mouth to even feed itself. Its entire life is a build up to just one week in its adult form, where it strives above all else to ensure the continuance of its species and mate. Never once does it question the nature of its existence. Humans are granted decades, a century if lucky, to live, love, learn, and experience life. Yet so many of them fall to self-hatred and depression.

The ball erupted from her hands. The shockwaves of power radiated off it like hurricane force winds. Those within the room were knocked clear off their feat, trigger fingers going wild and firing bullets at random. Gyarados Red appeared, the terror of the sea serpent engulfing the room, surrounding its partners entire form. Its roar as if a million predators rose up and turned their voices unto the skies, filling the room with intimidation. This was the horror of the sea given form, the alpha predator of the ocean deep.

In the moment, she knew. She was never alone. Gyarados Red looked at her, pokemon to girl. In the wild, would it not have killed her outright, eaten like just another lower member of the food chain? There were movies about that, a famous series years ago called Jaws, about a Gyarados that hunted innocent beach goers with abandon. Yet, over the millennia a strange bond had been forged between human and pokemon, the bond stronger than something meager like friendship or companionship. A Trainer and their pokemon were two halves of the same whole. The head and the hands. Working in unison to become greater than the sum of its parts. In that moment, the young human woman met yes with the great beast. There was a reason they worked so well, beyond understanding each other on some primal level. Her fire matched its fire, her drive matched its drive. She was Serena. He was Gyarados Red. They were the definition of mega.

"I won't die! Not here! Not now!" the girl screamed as the hangar erupted in sheer draconic rage.

How fitting was it that the base filled with the sounds not of battle, but of music at that time? Classical, with full orchestra accompaniment echoed from every speaker. It was as if very FLARE base itself heard the fire reignite within the very soul of Serena and said 'Yes! I shall play you into infinity! This sound shall be the soundtrack to your glory!' Atop his back she rode, her mega ring glowing with a light unseen before now, its intensity the fury of a ten thousand suns. As she burst through the hangar bay and into the evening sky above.

"Gyarados! I understand! Let's do this together!" she yelled. Whatever the military forces were planning, it was clear that most of them were not ready for an engagement with a beast as powerful as that of the divines. General Surge had left a sizable chunk of his army topside, and missiles combined with elemental onslaughts tore through the sky at the mega-power pokemon. But Serena was ready. With a wave of her hand, the power of Gyarados Red erupted, and washed over the land like a tsunami. Any attacks against them disappeared and exploded immediately.

She knew, she understood now.

And she would unleash and fury that would rival the demons of old.

* * *

"Gyarados Red has activated! Serena is okay! She's alive!" the new was amazing, a ray of hope Aliana sorely needed. Behind her she kept dragging Calem. He hadn't said a worried in a bit.

The two had crawled through the anterior tunnels, finally backing their way to the lower central elevator. Just one ride up would get him to X's terrarium, and its launch bay.

Bullets flew. Shards of ice rained down from above. Damn, they had been caught. With reactions honed from far too many battles, in one motion she threw Calem aside and drew her pistol. A pair of insurgents were behind them, partnered with shrew-like pokemon adapted to fidget climates, and could use the very powers of ice to control or inflict harm.

"Of course that idiot Calem is nowhere to be found!" Serena declared of the radio. Aliana didn't respond, caught up within the firefight. She would get Calem to X if it was the last thing she did. She had one chance, and prepared for something like this. Lysandre was paranoid, at times. She remembered during the base's construction that he hid pockets of supplies all over the base. Had he always known this attack was going to happen? She had so many questions for the leader, especially after what she had learned. What really was his role in all this, his goals? Why did he know so much about Second Impact? Why did he know so much about Cyrus?

From her jacket she withdrew a grenade she grabbed from one of those storage units; small but enough for now. She fired blindingly around her corner as a distraction, then leaped out into the hall and tossed the grenade. It flew right to its target like a professional baseball player tossing the winning pitch. Explosion rockets the corridor, with the ceiling caving in. Good.

She dragged Calem out of his hiding and thrust him against the elevator, hitting the call button at the same time. From within the telltale clanks and rumbles of the coming lift returned. Calem was going to make it after all. But she wasn't. Major Aliana had be shot. One of the soldiers had apparently gotten lucky, or didn't fall for her feint when she tossed the bomb. Blood oozed from her stomach.

"Well, that should hold them off for a while." She coughed, Calem looked at her, stunned. "Don't worry, it's not as bad as it looks." Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she turned to the boy, drops of blood flinging off her hand onto Calem's shirt.

"Calem listen to me. From now on you're on your own. You'll have to make your own decisions; no one can do it for you."

"I... I can't. I'm no good. I can't command X if all I do is hurt and kill people. I thought I had no choice but to partner with X, but I was just lying to myself. I'm not worthy of being a mega's partner because I don't understand anything! I'm incapable of doing anything good for anybody else. I did something terrible to Serena. I killed Mew." A boy, a friend danced across his psyche. "I'm a horrible person. I'm dishonest and a coward. All I ever do is hurt other people, so I'd rather do nothing at all!" There it was, Aliana knew the boy had just bared his heart.

"I'm not going to feel sorry for you. If you don't like feeling pain, then you can just sit here and let them kill you!" Her words washed over like the futility of waves trying to erode a metal shore. Tears well up in his eyes, as the saline began to wash down his cheeks.

"Crying isn't going to solve anything, either!" She paused, collecting herself. "You hate yourself, don't you? That's why you hurt others. Deep down you know that you suffer more when you cause someone else pain, than if you just let yourself get hurt. But, Calem, that was your decision, so that makes it a valid choice. That was what you wanted, so that makes it worthwhile. Stop lying to yourself, and realize that you do have options. Then accept the choices you've made."

"But you're not me. You don't know what I have to go through. You don't understand!"

"So fucking what if I'm not you?! That doesn't mean it's okay for you to give up! If you do, I'll never forgive you as long as I live. God knows I'm not perfect either. I've made tons of stupid mistakes and later I regretted them." Visions of August flashed through her mind. "And I've done it over and over again, thousands of times. A cycle of hollow joy and vicious self-hatred. But even so, every time I learned something about myself. Please, Shinji. You've got to pilot Eva and settle this once and for all. For your own sake. Find out why you came here. Why you exist at all. Answer your own questions. And when you've found your answers, come back to me. I'll be waiting for you. Promise me."

For a moment, the two stood there. Time seemed the stand still in Calem's mind. And in that moment, he knew her. They stood together, facing each other not as a young boy to his teacher, but as a man looking at a woman who truly cared for him. A whisper escaped his lips, a softly muttered "yes."

"See you soon," She knew she shouldn't, but her body leaned in, and gave a kiss. Possibly the first real kiss of the young man's life. Her lips embraced his and lingered. "That was a grown-up kiss. We'll do the rest when you get back." The elevator opened up, and she shoved Calem in. In the time that she had known him, she tried everything to make a connection to the boy. But what more could motivate a young man, than the allure of a femininity?

As the elevator door closed, she felt the full weight of her body collapse against the wall and onto the floor below. Strength is funny in a way. Humans project it for others better than they can must it for themselves. When she needed it, she was strong, strong for Calem, yet now the pain of the wound returned in full force. Se coughed.

"If I'd known it'd end like this... "

"I would have... changed the carpet like Serena suggested..."

"Right, Prinplup?" Her last partner.

"August, my love... I did do the right thing... didn't I?"

* * *

The enemy was prepared. One standby circling above were trainers aboard a dropship, and they had all thrown their pokeballs at the same time. Before her, before Gyarados Red stood the Genesect series. She had heard about them, in passing. The Elites hadn't put their entire faith in the Megas project to fight the divines at first, and ordered another team, far off in Unova to research a solution to the divines. This was the fruit of their labors.

300 million years ago, life was different. It's been said that the beasts of today pale in comparison to the monsters of yesteryear, that earth was once a living death world, filled with monstrosities and chaos. The technology to resurrect the fossilized had been perfected for years. Woolly Mamoswine which once inhabited the frozen north, walked the earth again, as did the dinosaurs Aerodactyl and the jurassic Tyrantrum. Genesect was an insect giant, an apex predator from the before times. And science decided that the creature nature perfected wasn't yet good enough.

What stood before her were six hybrids of arthropod and machine, cyborg abominations given life. Each different, in slight ways, yet all similar in species and the fact that nature had been improved upon with cannons strapped to their back. All demons of science designed to fight gods.

"Six against two huh? Is that any way to treat someone fresh out of the hospital?" Serena taunted. She grinned. They had no idea who they were messing with.

* * *

Music played throughout the room. Soft, yet meaningful chords danced to every person they touched, setting the stage for things to come. Lysandre knew it was Xerosic's doing, a way to soften the tension running through the base. He smiled, his second in command always had good taste.

He had brought Shauna here, to the bowels of FLARE headquarters, down in the very terminal dogma which housed the most precious of cargo. There they stood, as the containment which separated Xerneas from the world lifted, letting the majesty of the beast experience the stale underground air. The rafters trembled with the fury of the battle above, yet Lysandre cared not. All that mattered to him now was right here. But they were not alone.

"When I saw you had abandoned the rest to the wolves, I knew you'd come here." Dr. Celosia announced. She pointed a pistol straight at the FLARE leader. Shauna stood behind him, that same blank look on her face.

"Tell the truth, the truth about you and Second Impact." She ordered.

"If you're asking, then you already know. But I will humor your request." Violins played off of cellos, their vibrato accompanying a soft harmony of deep strings.

"And I thought, that I would conjure a great devil, and tell all the fools in the heavens that I too was god. I was there, when Cyrus spoke those last words to his flock. I was never a believer. The gods sit in heaven, under Arceus, and follow His lead on the world, a strict policy of utter neglect. Existence is one of string of pain tempered by the sweet kiss of love, which never is enough to temper the struggle. My first love taught me that, not you Celosia, never you. Yui gave me everything, and left nothing but despair in her passing. Death begets naught but strife."

"You use that as justification to destroy the world? Not only once, but twice? You think you're the only person ever to lose somebody, but your depression blinds you to the truth. And you lured me into your crusade, knowing full well I lost everything to Second Impact."

"Destruction was never my goal. I'm not some villain who seeks death and wishes to drag the universe within him into the black. I seek life, eternal. A greater understanding between all living things. You know that. You know was Instrumentality is. I join Cyrus on his crusade into the far reaches of the world not as some religious zealot. Cyrus's vision was to use the powers of heavens to remake this world into something beautiful. A universe without pain, without struggle, without strife, where the barriers that separate us are dissolved and humanity can truly know one another. You believed in that once too."

"Jeanette Celosia, The truth is…" trumpets gave way to fanfare and crescendos. The doctor looked at him, and chuckled.

"I was a fool." She raised pistol and pulled the trigger, but Lysandre was ready, Celosia was a scientist, not a murder, and her aim was labored and crude. Lysandre dodged the bullet easily, and shot her with his own, hidden, pistol before she could manage a second attempt. The bullet struck true, right in the middle of her head. She was dead before she even hit the ground. Her glasses shattered.

Lysandre stood up and threw aside his own weapon. He had no more use for the crude inventions of this world.

* * *

Serena raged. Even down here, in the command center, Bryonny could feel the impact of her mega's blows against the Genesect series. Under the console, she hid, with a laptop plugged into the mainframe feeding her information about the battle above. The fighting in the command center had died down, the guards and their pokemon had managed to stave off the first wave on insurgents bearing down on their location. It didn't give her pause no reprieve. She knew it was only a matter of time before more soldiers came pouring in, from the same tunnel or others, with even bigger and stronger pokemon in their wake.

She also saw that Calem had finally made his way to X.

"What's happening up there? Kaguya shouted while he searched for something to reload with.

"Serena and Gyarados Red are amazing, but they're taking heavy damage." The two were tearing across the city with a vengeance. The genesect barely had a time to fire before Gyarados Red was upon them. The mega was all fangs and fury as one giant bite tore through the torso of the first abomination. Two more jumped her from the back, but Serena was ready. Pokemon were perfectly adapted to their environments, so much that they take on some of its physical characteristics. Imagine, then, what the creativity of man could add to that mix? Gyarados Red's Tail slap was more than just the physical slam of flesh and bone, but summoned the full force of the strongest of waterfalls with it. Between Second Impact, and the attack from the living island Volcanion, Lumiose had become a place of endless rivers and streets rushing through its cracked city streets. Gyarados Red could summon them, and hit with the force of a monsoon.

Bryonny watched as the mega took out two, then four, then the fifth one in rapid succession. The beast spending little more than dozens of second on each genesect before tearing them to pieces. Serena was on fire.

"Now the last one!" The girl shouted, her voice echoing through the comms. Gyarados Red launched itself skyward. The last genesect tried, shooting a volley of blasts, but to no avail. The mega came crashing down on the abomination.

"She did it! Serena destroyed the last one!"

The ring's light softened as both trainer and partner reveled in their victory. Gyarados Red fought well, but nothing is invincible. Blood gushed from wounds earned during the fight. The beast was tired.

It was the worst time for a missile to strike.

General surge still had some support topside, and just as the mega relaxed its guard came 25-tons of explosive fury. All Bryonny could hear was the screams of a young woman being roasted alive.

"SERENA!" She shouted within the command center. Albin and Kaguya turned their attention to the screen. Up top, Xerosic tented his fingers.

"Wait, what? Oh Arceus, the destroyed Genesect series, they're coming back to life!" Raw power was never the goal of the genesect project, but longevity. Immortal soldiers, what was dead, engineered to never die. Whatever power the arthropod had in its past life regenerated the creatures, enough to bring them back from the brink. They stood, 6 creatures, more machine than biological, but living enough for one primal urge to survive. The urge to feed.

Bryonny turned away from the screen, her stomach doing flips as she tried to hold in what she hoped wasn't her last meal. The six genesect descended upon what remained of Gyarados Red, and its rider. And had begun to feast.


	3. Part 3

" _I knew you would come."_

Calem missed Kyle. When Serena had been injured in the fight against Diancie, there was a minor frantic panic. With only one child left, how could they defend against the last divine left to come. Mew was ancient, legendary, immortal. Whatever power the Mewtwo's possessed was probably a pale shadow to its ancestor. There was Shauna left, sure, but she and Gyarados Red were completely incompatible, her psychic connections unable to read or penetrate the mind of the dark typed mega.

Somehow, Kyle was introduced to FLARE. Dubbed, the fourth child, his role was to be brief yet important; to give Calem a partner in the final battle yet to come. At first, Calem hated Kyle. He was all smiles, always seemingly in a happy mood. How could he be so content, when Serena had nearly died in the fight before? How could he be so joyful, replacing a person who deserved Gyarados Red far more than he did. What had he done? Had he stood toe to toe against divine and lived to laugh about it? No. Serena had. In Calem's mind she was better than him in every way. She didn't deserve what happened to her at Diancie's hand, he did.

Normally, after practice, where the children were trained in sync with their megas, Calem went back to his room, to be alone with naught but his music. X was… intense. The mega tested not only Calem's endurance, but probed his very soul everytime they came in contact. Only his music drowned out the feeling, the memories, the world. Yet Kyle was there this time, ambushing him in the showers of the locker room. It was different, talking to Kyle, then it was for anyone else he had ever met. The harsh judgements he felt in the eyes of all others around him weren't in Kyles soft gaze. When Calem spoke, Kyle listened, truly listened.

He followed Calem home that night, and the two actually laughed and had fun watching old movies and listening to Calem talk about his grandmother's messy house and horder tendencies back in old Johto. Even Aliana Prinplup joined in, one time getting tickled by Kyle so hard that the bird squirt a jet of water from its beak all over Calem.

Kyle slept over that night. Before the two drifted off, Calem remembered him saying, "Humans constantly feel pain in their hearts. Because the heart is so sensitive to pain, humans also feel that to live is to suffer. You're so delicate, like glass, especially your heart. I'm glad I met you, Calem. I hope we can exist in each other's hearts for years to come".

" _He loved you. And you killed him."_

It was a false hope.

The next day, Kayle started poking around FLARE attempting to get a sense of the place. Lysandre had given him full run of the base, all except the very lowest levels of the facility. Kyle stayed very far away from X's terrarium, though. Calem managed to catch up with him in the early evening, and Kyle had a plan for the two of them. He wanted to see what Lysandre was hiding, as he didn't trust the leader of FLARE. Calem was all too ready to help his friend, and would do anything if it meant defying his father's word.

The terrariums were designed to house the megas when outside of battle. These cages were designed with comfort in mid, each providing a facsimile of the environment the pokemon so very desired. But what they did not contain were doors, or exits of any kind. FLARE cultivated the megas, but they did not turn a blind eye to their destructive potential, their only sense of escape was through entry and exit via the pokeballs their partners used. That was their design. But it all went wrong, that evening. Something weakened the barriers of the third mega's cage, and with it Gyarados Red went into a rampage.

" _Use Me."_

The command came to his mind as Kyle and Calem ran for cover, seeking safety in the lower levels. The terrariums were special, containing multiple layers of force fields designed against the mega's power. How then did it fail? Without them, the rest of the base was like wet paper to a dog under Gyarados Red's wrath. Command scrambled, but the security forces were being overrun. Kyle begged him to stay with him, his hand holding his in an embrace Calem rarely enjoyed. Yet he knew what he had to do, what X had to do. Calem called for his mega, and his mega answered. And through X's psychic eyes all was laid bare and revealed.

Gyarados Red raged, but X had that covered. The two battled through destroyed tunnels and broken holding bays. X had given him truth, in a rare instant of trust in his partner. Gyarados Red was not itself. That, was Kyle's fault. For Kyle was not who he seemed, who he pretended to be. Kyle was Mew, the last divine, the ancestral pokemon, shifted into human form.

Rage filed Calem's heart that day, rage born out of confusion and betrayal. How could he, how could the person he had actually called friend be his enemy in disguise all along? Kyle, no, Mew, had managed to break into the dark recess of terminal dogma, and stood in front of Xerneas. Calem caught him there, and for the first time in his life, drew a gun.

"it is my destiny to live forever, but is it fair that my survival must bring destruction to the human race? Xerneas calls to me, and I answered. I'm sorry Calem, for if it were my choice, I would have spent the rest of my days with you." Words were pointless after that. Calem screamed and threatened, he raised the gun and warned. Mew just turned, and began a slow walk toward its beginning.

Two shots rang out that night. Two shots that haunted Calem's dreams ever after.

Yet here he stood, in the presence of Mew's cloned progeny, X. The mega's gaze rest solely on his.

" _Are you ready?"_

Calem knew what he had to do. He knew that, finally, running was not an option.

" _Survival is not a mistake. Were Mew to believe in his cause, the world would have ended, such is his power. Life belongs to those with the will to live, and mew believed in your life, Calem."_

X rose. Higher than the tunnels below. Higher than the launch bay at the surface. X rose into the very sky itself, and a great and terrible storm brewed in his wake. Calem rose too. Lifted by the psychic strength of his mega. He looked over the land, and saw naught but destruction. What was once beautiful, this Lumiose City, had been reduced to rubble. And at its center, fed a pack of abominations, on the corpse of Gyarados Red, and Serena.

Calem screamed.

* * *

"What did Cyrus say, all those years ago when he ascended onto the mountains zenith? Ahh, yes." Lysandre turned his gaze from Xerneas to Yveltal, the pulsating giant black egg. "Bring forth the true form of evangelized humanity! Through indiscriminate death, and through prayer, we shall return to our original form! Our souls shall be at peace. Let the sacrament begin."

"Now Shauna, release your mind. Let your soul bond with the dreams of both Xerneas and Yveltal so that-"

Bang.

Lysandre gasped violently for air. The bullet struck home, tearing through his chest and exiting the other side. He looked at his young ward, with all the shock of betrayal on his face. She had shot him, with his own gun he discarded earlier.

"What?! Shauna… why…"

"Because I am not like you. Fate is not yours to command."

Lysandre stumbled and fell to his knees. She turned, and walked toward the slumbering hulk of the scintillating Xerneas.

"Wait! Please Shauna!"

In hushed tones, she stopped, just shy of the sleeping gods many antlers. In hushed tones, she spoke. "I cannot see what might come to pass, the future is uncertain. But I know this, Calem is waiting for me."

She stuck her hand out, and its many, uncountable eyes opened.

* * *

"Mega unit 01 has finally launched!" Bryonny stated. Those who were left in the command center waited on baited breaths. Whatever happened from here on out would be up to Calem to decide.

Psychic power radiated off X like the heat from a dying star. Debris was being pushed back with lightning force, and the monitors showed even the enemy armored patrol carriers were having a hard time staying grounded. Albin hoped, that maybe they were going to make it through this after all.

"Hang on, I'm picking up some strange readings!" Kaguya shouted. "Dimensional values are distorting and the solenoid graphs are inverting!"

"What? Check that again!" Xerosic barked.

"It's true! I'm running the data against known values, and its matches the readings from 5 years ago. Oh, oh Arceus, have mercy. We have begun Third Impact."

As if on the command, the ground rumbled. Everyone was knocked off their feet as a massive earthquake rocked the command center. Xerosic hung onto his console with white knuckles.

"These impacts are only physical shockwaves! The Base was designed to withstand such pressure. Hold out, and we should be fine.

But they were not fine.

The command center was intact, but the rest of flare base was in shambles. A giant, massive hole had been ripped through it, as if something grand and terrible and been birthed from the earth. And in the sky, it announced itself to the world. The wings of a massive entity spread themselves out, encompassing hundreds of miles each, blotting out the sun.

Xerosic looked on, the color drained from his face. Was this what Lysandre had planned? Surely not, for no one would be foolish enough for this. "Yveltal has reawakened," He announced to those who remained. "The black bird, the progenitor of man. Will it be an ark for the salvation of the humanity, or will it be a beacon of destruction heralding the end of the world. Only time will tell."

* * *

"That's it, ladies, our mission is a complete failure." Surge stated, the abject despair palpable in his voice. He was standing outside, with the rest of the men who had long since abandoned the worthless safety of their armored vehicles. In front of them was a sight few would ever behold. In a sky darkened by howling winds and a blackened sun, there flew Mewtwo X, its psychic radiance empowered by the ring of the first child. Behind them, though, was the majesty of the great black bird.

Surge imagined that all over the world, people were looking out windows, and standing in streets, wondering just what the hell was happening. He wondered this, because in his mind he owed them blissful ignorance, the ability to live their lives day to day without so much as the care of bills to pay or pokemon battles to fight. He left them down this day.

The bird's wings expanded, growing exponentially. Small debris and rocks began to tremble around him, and then float, only to be picked up in gale surround them. Yveltal was massive, its form generating its own gravitational pull. What had the Elites been thinking? How did they ever hope to believe that they, mere mortals upon this earth, could ever contain or dare to control this thing?

Lighting arced and crackled throughout the sky. First dozens, then hundreds of bolts lit up the darkness. Yveltal let out a screech that could curled the blood of men and drive women insane. The great bird began to glow, eerie red jagged lines that traced its whole body and wings like veins. And in one flap of its wings, Lumiose, and all those on its surface, were no more.

* * *

"Who are you?"

" _Who are you?"_

"?uoy era tahw"

" **Who are you?"**

"WHO ARE YOU?"

WhAt ArE yOu?

* * *

The kids screaming was deafening coming across the comms. Somehow, he had managed to survive the great and terrible wing of oblivion from Yveltal. Probably due to the protection of his mega. Down below, the command center remained, though intact was not a word that could describe it anymore. 80% of the base laid in ruins, be it from the assault, the violent emergence of Yveltal, or the flap of its wings destroying everything even remotely close to he surface layer. The command center itself had ceilings that were buckling in, and doors leading to destroyed hallways. Amazingly, power still functioned. Was that a testament to the strength of foreplaning the designers' put into the headquarters construction, or pure luck?

"Is everyone alright?" Xerosic shouted once the loud rumblings of the earth subsided. A small chorus of ayes and yeses rose up. The sub-commander of Flare could tell though, not everyone was shouting back. He himself had been thrown from his chair, and his leg felt like it was just shy of being broken in all the wrong places.

"Calem and X are still up there!" Bryonny reported. He already knew though, for a child's scream is something never taken lightly.

"Maybe we can make it through this! X is still active, what if he attacks Yveltal, like the divines?" Kaguya asked. He had taken refuge under the desks during the impacts, alongside Bryonny and Albin. The three at least had mode it this far.

"No good. That thing, that bird, is no divine. I doubt X could even make a dent in it." Albin replied, dejected.

Suddenly, alarms rose form the few remaining consoles. Bryonny, who managed to hang onto the laptop in her hands during the earthquakes, began furiously typing away. "An unidentified high energy object is approaching from terminal dogma rapidly!"

"Pattern blue!" Albin responded from his own computer. Which could only mean one thing.

"What? Another divine now? How? Is it one of those from the core of the earth? Is it Heatran?" Xerosic's confusion was palpable.

"Negative!" Bryonny replied. "It's... Its… human…"

AT first, there was light. Brilliance in a multitude of hues that only the radiance of a rainbow could match. It filled the room, piercing even the deepest corners and banishing the shadows. And then, it came, rising through the floor. First the head of a deer, covered from the very tips of its antlers to its snout in eyes which looked in every direction at once. It rose and grew, as if standing up from a long slumber, atop the body of a naked human girl. This was no human, though, not any more.

Its body passed through everything like a ghost, including every man, woman, and pokemon left standing in the command center. And when it passed through them, they screamed in existential horror. All except Xerosic, who looked on with stoic determination.

That thing, that fusion of seed and girl, grew to ten, then one hundred times its size, its arms and head reaching the stratosphere. There it raised its arms in mock jubilation. Xerneas had awoken. Yveltal had awoken. Between them, they gazed, each seed looking directly toward the sky between them, where hung X, and its partner Calem.

* * *

"I can't take it anymore"

"I can't take it anymore"

"I can't take it anymore"

"I can't take it anymore"

His head was on fire, as if he was experiencing the absolute worst migraine of his life. Millions of visions assaulted his mind, making it next to impossible for him to even think for himself. Behind him X twitched, eyes rolled up into its skull as the mega seemed to experience one seizure after another. Calem kept chanting that phrase to himself, in the vain hope that this would all be over.

Xerneas opened its mouth, and no sound came out, but Calem froze. He saw a world, teeming with life, greener than even the most bountiful of spring days.

Yveltal opened its beak, and he saw a world covered in civilization, every square kilometer of the globe filled with city blocks.

The two seeds closed their mouths, and Calem saw the world. A world where every pokemon twisted their forms, convulse, and their bodies became covered in faces. Each smiling uncannily, and giggling. Each in the form of Shauna's vacant image. He wanted to scream, to run, hide, flee. Yet his body would not respond, and his mouth would not move.

"is this better?" the question came, echoing through his mind, drowning out all the other voices. Calem looked, and where Xerneas once stood, a colossus of deer and girl, the seed had morphed into the form of Kyle. Its face warm and inviting.

"Have, have you been there, with me, the entire time?" Calem wanted to ask. The Kyle opened its arms wade, and moved them to embrace Calem. He could feel the love in his mind, in his very heart. He wanted this. Behind, Yveltal did the same, its massive wings enclosing Calem from above.

* * *

"Calem's ego barrier is getting weaker!"

"X is resonating in tune with the seeds!"

"Both X and Calem's psychostrata are down!"

First Impact was caused by the war raged between the seeds. This, it seemed, was the opposite. "The fruit of life is held by pokemon, and their crown Xerneas. The fruit of reason is held by man, given by Yveltal. Mewtwo X now possesses both, and therefore becomes God." Xerosic's looked on as the form of Yveltal merged with the form of Xerneas, brilliant light, melding with utter blackness. Both entombing X, and its partner Calem. "Now the font of all souls, the tree of life, has been reformed. Will it be an ark that will save mankind from the vacuum of Third Impact? Or is it a demon that will destroy us all."

Kaguya tugged mercilessly at Albin's jacket. "Have we... have we done the right thing?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"Now the fate of all man and pokemon kind lies in Calem's hands." Xerosic continued, unfazed at the madness of it all.

The two seeds merged and became one, a brilliant glowing tower streaked with black, its branches of horns extending into infinity. Its surface, covered with an unthinkable number of eyes, each looking into the soul of a different being.

* * *

"This pokemon is your heart, and your dreams." A soft, kind, motherly voice spoke.

" _What is it you wish for?"_

The evening sun shed its blood orange hue across the park. Calem sat on a bench overlooking it, but still next to the street. He was waiting for the bus. He was 10.

The recital had ended a little over a half hour ago. Parents had clapped and congratulated the children on their performance. The conductor, his music teacher, bowed and thanked them. Orchestra was a class, but not a required one. Like sports, it sat in that grey area between academics and activity, but unlike them, the school devoted a hour every day to let the conductor teach. Music education was important after all. It shaped young minds and was linked to higher IQs and better test results.

They had practiced for weeks, with the song Slowpoke's Lullaby being the crown jewel of the show. It wasn't too advanced, but nevertheless the children played it well. Calem played the cello. His parents did not come.

After the performance most hugged their fathers and mothers and took packed away instruments home. Calem stored his cello away, for it was too heavy to transport to and from school all the time, and locked it up within the music room. Then he waited, watching the sun set.

"Your parents didn't come huh?" a girl, his classmate asked.

"No, buts that okay. I know he's really important and busy person". His father didn't come. His mother couldn't.

"Then why do you play?" she asked, curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"Why keep playing at all? You're not very good at it, you're always last string."

"I know"

Out in the distance, the wind whistled through the trees, bringing in warm fall air. Calem lifted his eyes, and saw the figure of X outlined by the setting sun.

"My mom won't let me quit. I don't like playing. It's all so rigid and it takes too much time to practice on the weekends. She's always going on about how I'm going to be a doctor someday and I need to have focus taught by music or some such. Ever since our music teacher told her about the class, she won't shut up about it."

"Yeah, I joined because he told me to play too."

"So? Why don't you quit? I doubt your father would care."

"I don't know. I guess nobody told me to stop."

His mind blurred. A voice, soft, feminine rose within his mind. "I guess I wasn't able to become Calem's mother after all…" It was Aliana's. He found himself here, there, somewhere. A room, small, with four walls made of concrete hastily painted over in a vain attempt at dignity.

"Mmmm, let's do it." She purred.

"Again? Aren't you supposed to meet your friend at the base today?" A man.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, Jeanette. It's okay, we still have time..."

"We've been cooped up here for a week now..."

"Yeah, but I think I'm getting the hang of it... so come on..."

Calem stood there, unnoticed, as the beast with two backs was formed. Words resonated within his mind, her words. "I probably just do this to prove that I existed."

"Ugh, that's stupid! Its' just two depressed grownups licking each other's wounds!" Serena exclaimed. She was next to Calem now on his right, though she dared not look.

"We want to feel needed, even if it's only physical. I feel wanted, and that makes me happy." On his left, Aliana stood, watching herself and August.

"It's just an easy way to convince yourself that you're worth something." Serena retorted.

"This is also me. The me that exists when two hearts are melded as one. The me that Calem will never know. Reality can be painful, but you just have to accept it." Aliana spoke.

"Oh man, does that mean when I grow up I'll do the same thing's Aliana does?" Serena was starting at him. They were at the apartment. Their apartment.

"Say, wanna kiss?" her lips shone, the scent of strawberry gloss fresh on the air.

"You mustn't!" Aliana.

"Or are you afraid?" Her hair shone as Serena chided him.

"It's not for kids". Alina's voice grew weaker.

"Here I come". Serene stepped closer. They looked into each other's eyes. Calem told his body to lean in. But he froze.

"You don't understand anything! Just stay away from me."

Calem was outside, alone, starring over the hill that marked the entrance to Lumoise City "But, I do understand."

"No you don't! You're such a moron!" They were in mega practice. She kicked him, fiercely in front of the collected members of FLARE.

"You really think you understand me!? You jerk! You think that you can help me? That is so arrogant! You couldn't possibly understand me!" She yelled at him across the dinner table at their apartment.

"How can you expect me to understand you if you never talk to me?" a hundred doors slammed in his face, from a hundred different Serenas. "That's impossible!"

"Did you ever really try?" came a voice, Shauna's voice.

"Of course…"

"Idiot. I know all about how you think of me when you go to bed at night. Maybe we could live out one of those dreams together some time. But, if I can't have you all to myself, I want nothing from you, ever." Serena leaned over him on the train. She was wearing her new bikini for the one day off they had to go swimming.

"Then, why don't you ever try just being nice to me?"

Calem was surrounded by the three of them, Aliana, Serena, and Shauna. They all smiled behind fetid smiled and spoke in unison. "We are nice to you."

"Liars!" Calem swatted away the image and fell tumbling into chaos. "You all just hide behind those smiles but intentionally keep the truth ambiguous!"

"What would you rather have? A pleasant lie or a sour truth?" Shauna comforted him, easing his fall into her arms.

"I just… I just want someone to care about me…"

He was 40. He was tired. It had been a long day at the office, and the summer heat sweltered under his collar. The drive home had been filled with nothing but the endless traffic of rush hour. As he walked in the door, he saw her, and dreaded what was to come.

She sat at the table, her greying hair covering her face as her head buried itself in her arms. On the table were papers, with printed legal texts asking for signatures here, and there. No laughter of children could be heard, for they did not have any. He knew what those papers were, the only thing they could be.

"I want to make it work. I want to stay with you, Serena. Forever. I want to help you, but I don't know what to do?" He dropped his suitcase and walked over to her.

"Then don't do anything." She whispered. "Don't come near me. All you ever do is hurt me."

"Serena, help me. Please, you're the only person who knows. Help me help you."

"Liar." She turned her head to face him. "Anyone will do, huh? You don't care who it is. You're afraid of Shauna and Aliana! You're afraid of your mother and father too. And you came running to me, because it was the easiest way to keep from getting hurt!"

"No, but I…" She shoved him. Hard. His arm spun wildly and the coffee machine was knocked over, spilling cold, ignore brew all over him and the floor.

"You never really cared about me. You used me to help yourself, because it filled some void that you made in you made in your heart. You never loved me, you never even learned to like yourself!" He fell to the ground, his chest hurting where the heavy kitchen appliance fell on him. He began to whimper, as Serena stood over him, her eyes glaring daggers.

" _Pathetic."_

"Please, I need you. I need someone. I can't be abandoned, I don't want to be alone again! Please Don't leave me! Don't kill me!" He yelled in a fit of anguish. He stood, and violently tossed aside the kitchen table and chairs, the same ones they had picked out for their wedding registry together.

All that replied was a silent, "No."

Where tears were forming, in his mind, in his heart, there stood X.

And rather than cry, he lashed out. Arms stretched, he grabbed Serena by the neck, and choked her.

* * *

Anger.

Sadness.

Love.

Joy.

Frustration.

Hope.

Confusion.

Eating the last slice of pizza from the box at a party.

A kindergartener drawing their favorite superhero out of crayons and watercolor.

A dog welcoming you home.

The same dog, dead.

That new car smell.

Month old mushy fish.

Hands squeezing tightly around a throat.

Visions, images, thoughts, feelings. All these flashed through Calem's mind. His life, the life of those near him, and all the lives of those who ever lived danced in his soul.

" _You ddin't understand anything"_

"I thought, that this was supposed to be a world without unpleasantness, without uncertainty?"

" _Because you thought that everyone was like you."_

Calem thrashed, lashing out at the nothingness, and at eternity.

" _You've misunderstood from the start. You simply assumed without asking."_

"Nobody wants me. What difference does it make if everyone were just to die?"

"Then what are your hands for?" Shauna, as she floated next to him.

"Then what is your heart for?" Aliana, as she did the same.

"Nobody cares whether I exist or not. Nothing will change. I'd be better if I wasn't here. So, I should just die too."

A sea, red, flowing. Its depths filled with the souls of all creation, ever circling, encompassing the earth.

X, its eyes glowing.

Silence.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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* * *

"Partner's response is verging on infinite zero!" Albin shouted.

"Mega Mewtwo X and the seeds are approaching the E layer of the atmosphere and still rising!" Kaguya added.

Xerosic looked on.

"The anti-DeMalgian field coming from Yveltal is expanding and materializing!"

Above, the tree, that amalgamation of both seeds, stretched and extending, carrying its host unto the upper atmosphere and beyond. And at its peak stretched the combination of all things. Thegiant head of Xerneas reemerged, atop the torso of Shauna once posed, now made from the same black streaked scintillating form of the seeds.

"The anti-DeMalgian is exceeding critical limits!" Albin stated in pure disbelief.

"Soon individual entities will be unable to maintain their separate forms!" Kaguya added in despair.

Underneath the console, Bryonny sat, curled into a fetal position, stuffing her face in a pillow like a flightless Dodrio bird its heads in the dirt.

The tri-part being extended itself, and wings formed. First two, then four then 10. Its wingspan reaching halfway to the moon.

"The chamber of souls has been unsealed. The door to both the beginning, and end, of the world is opened at last." Xerosic knew.

The tri-part being bent down, and where its shadow was cast, gravity fell to ruin. Across the globe, Shauna appeared, to all beings, both pokemon and human, simultaneously and fully. To those she touched, knew pain, nor suffering, nor sorrow no more, as they burst, their clothes falling around them, into pure light. "The world is overflowing with sadness. People are surrounded by emptiness... And loneliness has filled their hearts." The Shauna spoke, in complete and utter unison to the world.

Kaguya panicked, fear stiffening his muscles. Shauna looked at him, her pale deadpan expression of integument scared him to his very core. As she moved closer, she morphed, her brown locks changing into Major Alianas dyed deep purple, her face into hers, her body the same. She gave him as kiss as he screamed, and then burst, his clothes fluttering into the seat.

Near, a dozen, naked Shauna surrounded Albin, who tried to hide vainly under the desk. They encircled him, and showed him the light.

"The DeMalgian fields... all of them… they're all disappearing…" Bryonny typed flutily away at the keyboard. Hands encompassed hers, typing "I need you" on the screen. She turned as was embraced by Dr. Celosia. She cried out in ecstasy as she too, found the light.

Far away, one after another, the callers dropped off the line.

"Did we bring this upon ourselves? Did we, those who thought ourselves better than the rest, by virtue of skill and adoration, cause this madness?" Elite 1 said before his line went silent.

"Maybe." Elite 9 responded, who was from Sinnoh. "or maybe this this was the will of Arceus all along. Yes, the beginning and end are one and the same." She too went silent.

"Or perhaps we should have not turned a blind eye to doctrine and zealotry for so long." Elite 4's last words were.

"In the end, does it matter?"

Lysandre lied in a pool of his own blood, down in terminal dogma. Next to him stood Yui, his love, his heart. She spoke, and he listened.

"When you were gone, I didn't know what to do. I was lost, within a sea of despair and weariness. I abandoned Calem because I all ever did was cause him pain. I thought, that maybe it was better if I did nothing at all. I didn't believe that anyone could ever love me again."

"Were you afraid of Calem?" Yui asked, softly.

"He was, he is, so very much like you. Your death, your pain, I believed it was all my fault. I never deserved to be loved."

"So, you were running away, and you rejected the other around you, so you could never be hurt." Kyle, no Mew, spoke.

"You were afraid of the invisible bonds people form." Yui added.

"And so you closed off your heart." spoke Shauna.

"I… I've waited so long for this day, but its not what I ever imagine. And so, this is my reckoning." Lysandre whispered. Above him, Shauna twisted and morphed into a great beast. And in one bite, ate Lysandre.

Across the planet, like a tsunami, pillars of light arose, higher than the highest skyscraper, taller than the tallest tree. In one motion, the planet was lit like a star in the night, and ascending into the sky were the radiance of billions. Each individual point of light collecting with another, until the entire earth was no more different than the sun itself, covered in a glowing layer of souls.

They drifted, collected, and formed together in a new moon, one made of radiance rather than rock, held aloft between the hands of the great tri-part god. And at this being's very opened an eye, in which X, and its partner, survived.

* * *

I hate you.

I wouldn't be caught dead with you!

Don't get me wrong... Do you really think I could ever like you?

You have nothing to do with my life anymore.

Get away from me!

Don't call me anymore!

Stubborn bastard...

Don't follow me around anymore.

Your type makes me sick!

I'm sorry...

We're nothing more than friends.

Annoying bastard...

Why don't you learn to give up?

There's no way I'd ever go back to you.

I HATE YOU!

Go away!

I wish you were never born.

Dammit, get away from me!

i hate you!

You're a pain in the ass!

"Wimp," Serena.

"If its painful, you can stop" Aliana.

"If you don't like it you can run away" Shauna.

"But wouldn't you rather be one with me? With us?" All three.

* * *

You pause for a second. This work had stop making sense a long time ago, yet you kept reading. Why?

You get up, and walk around, wondering what it all means. You look out the window, seeing the world outside. It might be a busy city street, bustling with people, or an empty road, or a vibrant forest. You know this, because you've seen outside that window countless times before. Its familiar to you.

You being to turn back to the book, but are stopped. Maybe someone is calling out to you, calling your name, trying to get your attention. Maybe they are not. It doesn't matter to you, because it has happened before. It will happen again. Being alone right now, reading this work does not bother you, because you know you are not truly, alone. There is always someone else, there will always be someone else.

You think about this. You remember firstly those time when people annoyed you, how being around others was awkward or uncomfortable. Perhaps that is why you are reading this now? Perhaps that is why you are reading this alone? However, you also remember those time when others made you laugh, made you cry, made you, happy, and made you mad. Others made you feel, which means on some level, you let them into your heart.

You keep reading, wondering where this is going.

You're glad this is all a story, that the adventures of poor Calem are text on a page. You don't want to be in his shoes, but you find thrill in experiencing what he does through the medium of text and words. You briefly wonder what you would do, but it doesn't matter. It's just fiction.

Though now you wonder, are you just a part of the story? The author stopped writing about Calem, and now is writing about you. You exist within the story too. You pinch yourself, it hurts. Good. You thought, you felt, and you came to the conclusion that you do exist. This you the author writes about, its not the real you, the you that exists within your own mind. It is the you that exists within the text, that exists as a fabrication of the writer's words. You realize there are multiple yous, besides these two. Everyone you have ever met has a you within them. Your lover, your friend, your mother, your brother. Even that person on the street you walked past once and never spoke to has a you within them, the you that exist solely as a ephemeral creature, there in their lives one moment as backdrop in their commute an gone the next. It might not last, that you might be forgotten, to die the death of abandonment. But in others, you exist longer. You realize existence is a two-way street, the existence of you who you see versus the you others perceive. Each one is as true as the other, in some sense or form.

You might care. Or you might not. But you exist. Your life is a string of experiences, experienced by you and others around you, all leading from one moment to the next, with no end in sight and no destination fated. The joy of existence is experience. You remember the warmth of the sun on a spring day, the feel of water during a nice bath, the pain of a paper cut, or the thrill of a roller coaster. These and more make up you, the you that lives within your own heart. And they are to be treasured. The you that exists within other hearts might share some of these memories but not all. Each person carries a fraction of you, and only by piecing it together with others can they mirror what makes up your existence. So, exist, make choices, have adventures, live your life. Even if that means you might want this part to end.

* * *

"Hey, what are dreams?"

"Yes! Dreams!"

He saw, and he knew. This world was just one possible would, out of countless millions upon millions. A world where he was born named Shinji, a world where Pokémon existed just within video games, a world where fairies never existed. All possible, all true, in one form or another. His mind reached out and touched them all. But try as he might, he could not live within them, for all he saw were just dreams, visions of them.

"I don't understand, I don't understand where to find the true reality."

"You can't bridge the gap between your own truth and the truth of others."

"But, where do I then find happiness?"

"Its at the end of your dreams"

"So, this is not reality? This world, where no one truly exists?"

"No, it is only a dream. Your dream."

"Then I don't exist here either."

"Is that wrong? Why can't I dream that I'm alone?"

"Because you are never alone. That is not a dream, but your convenient excuse to avoid your reality."

His eyes opened, and beheld an endless sea or orange and green, where a multitude of lights twinkled off in the distance, with no surface to speak of. In it he floated, naked, underneath the form of Shauna, who gazed into his eyes.

"This place, is eternity. A world without limits, without the barriers of the heart, where all are one. A fragile world, where you cannot tell where you end and others begin." She whispered.

"Is this death?"

"Not quite."

"So, who am I? What is me?" he asked.

"Does it really matter?"

"It does, to me at least. I'm not Serena, not Aliana, nor you, or father. I know I'm not the strongest, not the bravest, but that doesn't matter to me. I know I exist within others' hearts, and that me that dwells within them might be something I fear or dislike, but that's okay I guess."

"This is the world that you were hoping for, your world. A world without pain."

"But... this isn't right. I don't think this is right."

"So, what you're saying," Kyle started, floating alongside them. "Is that you wish for the barriers of people's hearts to separate them again? Even if they hurt you once more?"

" _To let existence continue in a world where people cannot truly know one another?"_ X added.

"I thought it was okay to run away from the place I was, to a world all my own, because I only felt pain. But I there was nothing good about the place I escaped to either, because no one else existed there. And so, I didn't exist. Maybe, avoiding the problem isn't a solution, since nothing ever gets resolved. I guess, I don't mind a little pain, once in a while. But what are the two of you within my heart?"

" _We are the courage one must summon the face the world with eyes wide open."_ X started.

"And we are the words 'I love you'" finished Kyle.

"But, that's just a pretense. If I hate myself, how can the you within my heart have love and courage?"

He floated there, eyes open. And then the fog shattered.

"Maybe, maybe I truly don't hate who I am, who I was. Maybe I want to be me."

The sea vanished, replaced by a beach filled with white sand; where crystal clear waves lapped and the sun should down above. Calem stood surrounded by friends and everyone he knew.

"Congratulations!" clapped Bryonny.

"Congratulations!" clapped Dr. Celosia.

"Congratulations!" clapped Aliana.

"Congratulations!" clapped Shauna.

"Congratulations!" clapped August Sycamore.

"Congratulations!" clapped Xerosic.

"Bwak bwak!" clapped Prinplup.

"Congratulations!" clapped his orchestra classmate.

"Congratulations!" clapped Serena.

"Congratulations!" clapped his grandmother.

"Congratulations!" clapped Kaguya

"Congratulations!" clapped Albin.

"Congratulations!" clapped his mother and father.

"Thank you! Thank you all! I want to see you all again, because I know at the time my feelings were real."

* * *

Blood splattered. Blood made from the combination of the millions of souls coursing through the veins of the tri-part being. Its head tilted, as if struck by a great hammer, and the neck connecting the face of Xerneas to the body that once was Shauna's split in two, first by a hair, then entirely. The being ever so slowly, as if in suspended animation fell backward. Its multitude of Yveltal's wings collapsing with it, before dissolving unto the ether from whence they came.

The new moon, its light still flickering against the darkness of the void between worlds, pulsated, grew, then shattered back into billions of individual points of light. Each spiraled out like some mockery of the great Milky Way galaxy before covering the globe once more with their light.

Atop the head of Xerneas, as it split from the great whole of the body, grew one massive eye. It did not blink, for it could not. It did not see, for it could not. It shimmered, before from the very pupil emerged X, it glowing with the mega's majesty. X howled, a long, echoing howl before bursting from the eye like a bullet through an egg.

Reality exists within a place unknown.

And dreams exist within reality.

Truth exists within our hearts.

And our hearts shape our reality.

The tri-part being fell, down, down back toward the earth. Its limbs separating, with each hand falling into a different sea, each branch of the tree it sprung forth from drifting throughout the world, planting themselves in each its own corner. As the head fell, it crashed into the land with a silent impact, its eyes wide and blank.

The power of imagination is the ability to create new images in one's heart.

New images which will shape our own reality.

New Images which will create our own flow of time.

The head split as it hit the mountain's peak, severing in two, with each falling onto different sides. From its body sprung the light of souls, which reached unto the heavens and encircled the globe.

Evolution is change ongoing, the power of free will to shape our own destinies.

So one must fine their own lost self, even if they become lost in other's desires.

Anyone can return to their original form, if they can imagine themselves within their own heart.

All creation has the power to be brought back to life.

As long as the sun, the moon, and the earth exist, everything will be alright.

* * *

[[ **ONE MORE FINALE** ]]

Calem walked along the shore, his feet bare so he could feel the ocean waters on his feet when the lapped the shore. Behind him was X, but he didn't mind. He left X to do its own thing.

The world was still, and silent. Nothing moved save for him and the waves. The night sky above shore with the light of the full moon, and the ring of red light encircled the sky above, a new ring for a new age. In the distance, Xerneas's severed head glinted in the moonlight.

He knew he still would think about death and stuff. He knew (not) where his happiness lied. Those things, however, didn't matter anymore.

Lying on the beach in front of him was Serena, washed ashore. Her form reminded him of the sleeping beauty from myths and fairy tales. His legs took her towards her, and then collapsed him onto his knees.

Her eyes were open, but did not see him. Her mouth, half agape and half shut.

Calem stuck out his hands, mere centimeters from her neck.

" _You are (not) alone."_

Her eyes twitched and met his. She raised her arm, and caressed his face.

He relaxed, and cried.

Fin.


End file.
